Mobile, internet and electronic payments: The key to unlocking the full potential of the internal payments market

This paper describes how some banks and banking communities in the last two decades, especially in the Nordic area, have been able to take advantage of technology and new payments channels to re-engineer their payments business, and how they interact with their customers. This paper also gives some insight into how the Single Euro Payments Area and other standards initiatives could potentially enable those banks and banking communities lagging behind to bridge the gap, as well as how internet and mobile banking will influence the payments landscape and create opportunities for re-engineering in the future. In the mobile area, it especially highlights the emerging markets for mobile financial services and what is in the pipeline for cross-industry cooperation, eg between banks and the mobile network operators in order to enable this channel to be available for an efficient deployment of financial and payments services, such as debit and credit card payments, remittances, etc. This paper is of interest both for payments specialists and executives in banks and other stakeholder communities involved in the payments arena, and also for those working on strategies and consulting in banks and similar types of business.