Mobile Payments: Consumer and Regulatory Research

Studies find legal inconsistencies, user concerns, and opportunities for growth

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Mobile payments enable consumers to conduct financial transactions using web browsers, apps, or text messages on their smartphones or other mobile devices. These products and services have the potential to provide consumers with greater convenience and lower costs when managing their money and to increase financial inclusion for consumers without bank accounts.

As the popularity of mobile payments grows, it becomes increasingly important to understand the legal framework in which these transactions take place. Regulatory overlap, gaps, and ambiguities exist in the federal and state statutes that govern mobile transactions, and many laws have not kept pace with this emerging technology. These uncertainties must be addressed to give financial service providers a clear regulatory framework and to ensure that consumers who use mobile payment have appropriate and reliable protections.

Pew has published information on the legal framework for mobile payments and survey research on consumers’ attitudes toward and usage of these products and services.

Mobile payment
Mobile payment
Issue Brief

Can Regulators Foster Financial Innovation

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Issue Brief

As businesses and policymakers seek to promote the development of new payments technologies, the need to also ensure safety and efficiency will present a range of challenges to regulators and traditional financial systems.

Mobile Payments
Mobile Payments
Issue Brief

Are Americans Embracing Mobile Payments?

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Issue Brief

Americans typically make purchases with cash, credit cards, or debit cards, but many are also conducting financial transactions using web browsers, text messaging, or apps on phones and tablets. Mobile transactions have been made possible by consumers’ widespread adoption of smartphones and increasing preference for online commerce.

Issue Brief

What Do Consumers Without Bank Accounts Think About Mobile Payments?

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Issue Brief

Mobile payments technology allows customers to make online and point-of-sale purchases, pay bills, and send or receive money from their smartphones via Web browsers, apps, or text messages, and it has the potential to increase financial inclusion for consumers without bank accounts—the unbanked.

Issue Brief

Who Uses Mobile Payments?

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Issue Brief

Who Uses Mobile Payments?

Mobile payments technology allows customers to make online and point-of-sale purchases, pay bills, and send or receive money from their smartphones via the Web browser, an app, or a text message. Mobile payments use has become widespread: Forty-six percent of U.S. consumers report having made a mobile payment, which translates to approximately 114 million adults.

Additional Resources

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network
Report

How Can Regulators Promote Financial Innovation While Also Protecting Consumers

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Report

How Can Regulators Promote Financial Innovation While Also Protecting Consumers

Recent research demonstrates the difficulties regulators around the globe face in addressing innovations in the financial system, especially emerging mobile payments and banking platforms.

Data Visualization

Who Is Regulating Mobile Payments?

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Data Visualization

Every day, Americans use their smartphones to transfer money, pay for goods and services, and make donations. These transactions are collectively referred to as mobile payments. This infographic provides an overview of the many federal agencies that oversee the mobile payments marketplace, including payment processors and products.

Video

Mobile Payments: The Good, the Bad, and the Confusing

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Video

Ever use your smartphone to pay for parking or split the dinner bill with a friend? More people are using their phones as a mobile wallet and most mobile transactions work just fine. But with technology constantly evolving the rules that should protect consumers simply haven’t caught up.