The UK leads the world on mobile payments thanks to the Paym service launched in April, a research paper by the Payments Council claims.
Paym, a system that allows registered users to transfer money using mobile phone numbers, is the only industry-wide, free-to-use, person-to-person mobile payments service globally.
This means the UK is ahead of rivals India, Japan, Kenya, Sweden and the US.
The Payments Council’s paper compared various factors, including ownership, infrastructure, speed and the customer experience of mobile banking in different countries.
It found that Japan and the US – traditionally seen as world leaders in payments technologies – lag behind their European counterparts, the UK and Sweden, in delivering person-to-person mobile payment solutions. Meanwhile, India struggles to provide the universality of service provided in the UK and Sweden, due in most part to the demographic and geographic disparity of the country.
But Kenya’s M-Pesa payment service has increased financial capability and inclusion in a country lacking in a banking and payments infrastructure.
Commenting on the report, entitled Delivering world-leading mobile payments: How does the UK compare internationally?, Adrian Kamellard, chief executive of the Payments Council, said: “Mobile technology has changed human behaviour across the globe and in so doing has revolutionised the way we carry out many everyday, yet vital tasks.”
Sally Percy is editor of The Treasurer