Banks aren’t set for mobile payment era, survey finds

Anew report from CenturyLink suggests that some of the highest-level executives at Canadian banks believe their companies may not be ready to meet the mobile banking needs of their customers.

CenturyLink surveyed 50 high level or C-suite executives from financial services institutions about how customer needs are changing in light of the digital revolution.

Nearly half — 46 per cent — of respondents said they did not think their company had the IT infrastructure, systems and processes in place to meet customer demands for mobile payments. And 40 per cent said they didn’t think their companies had the IT infrastructure to satisfy client expectations even for core banking services.

CenturyLink, a global communications and technology company, conducted telephone interviews with the executives between May 1 and 13.

The entrance of technology companies into the financial services space has been the subject of heated in recent months.

Chief executives of some of Canada’s biggest banks have commented during their annual general meetings about the need to adapt or risk losing market share to new entrants.

Online peer-to-peer lenders threaten to snatch customers from the banks, while tech giants such as Apple and Google have launched mobile payment processors that could weaken the relationship between banks and their clients.

Royal Bank’s chief executive, Dave McKay, has stressed the need to work with early-stage financial technology companies in order to thrive in an increasingly digital world. TD Bank CEO Bharat Masrani has urged regulators to introduce rules governing the new entrants, which are not subject to the same regulations banks and other financial institutions must adhere to. That gives them an unfair advantage and could threaten the stability of the country’s financial system, he said.