Wallet, purse, to go

Forget the credit cards in the wallet, more people are paying with their phones, writes Sophie Elsworth

MOBILE payments are surging as bank customers embrace paying with a tap of their smartphone or flick of their wearable device.

Whether it be Apple, Samsung, Android, Garmin or Fitbit Pay, more lenders are rolling out a platter of payment options for customers.

Andy White, chief operating officer of The Australian Payment Network – a selfregulatory body set up to improve payment systems in Australia – said more customers are demanding these types of payment services.

Already nationally there are more than 50 issuers live on Apple Pay and 46 live on Android Pay.

“You have an entrenched use of contactless cards in Australia; already 77 per cent of face-to-face transactions that you make in a shopping environment are contactless,’’ Mr White said.

“You are already seeing in NSW a trial on transport on the Manly Ferry (where users pay to travel by tapping their bank card) and now with Woolworths you can use your loyalty card on your mobile, which is so convenient rather than trying to pull cards out of your wallet.”

New data from ANZ – the only of the big four banks to have Apple Pay – revealed a huge spike in mobile wallet transactions during the Christmas period, with 3.9 million mobile wallet transactions made – an increase of 140 per cent compared with December 2016 when 1.6 million transactions were made.

And 62 per cent of customers used mobile wallets to pay for groceries, dining out or they filled up at the bowser.

Mobile payments allow customers to store their bank information inside their mobile phone and tap their device at the checkout to pay without having to use a card.

And wearables too are rising in usage – ANZ data showed customers using their smartphone or wearables made up 4.5 per cent of all transactions compared with 2 per cent the previous year.

ING, who also have Apple Pay and Android Pay, said 25 per cent of customers who have mobile wallets make mobile payments and the average transaction size is $25.50.

ANZ’s senior manager of everyday banking, Steve Price, said despite the increase in mobile wallet payments, becoming a cashless society was still a long way off and the security of this payment form is top notch.

“I don’t see cash disappearing anytime soon, but certainly there’s a growth in the small-value transactions and the willingness and acceptance of people to pay for coffee with their phone or wearables,’’ he said.

“Digital wallets are actually more secure than contactless cards in many ways and as people become more familiar with the technology and the role biometrics play, that realisation will grow.”