You might have seen the bank commercial. The young man opens his birthday card and there’s no money inside. His grandmother gestures for him to look at his phone. He checks his cell phone to see that the money was sent to him; everyone smiles! That’s P2P or person-to-person payments.
P2P might be relatively new to the payments landscape, but it’s estimated market share is between $80 to $120 billion. Also known as “social payments”, this is the latest new offering in the delivery channel arena.
A P2P provider shared an analysis of credit union member payment activity. Most were expecting to see payments between friends. Rent payments were the number one transaction. Other payments were everyday expenses; child care and utilities.
Many financial institutions are offering P2P through their online platform, but the real growth is coming from the mobile space. “You won’t see P2P take off in lieu of cash until it’s easier for people to receive money,” says Grace Manuele, CO-OP Financial Services’ senior product manager. “Unless they’re already enrolled in PayPal or some other personal payment service, recipients just don’t want to jump through hoops to get their money.
Six key factors that a P2P product should offer:
As remote delivery channels continue to evolve, they become more available to all credit unions. There are some big players in the P2P space that have tailored packages for credit unions. Many of the core providers are offering P2P. Sprig™ by CO-OP provides members one convenient app for virtual access to all their accounts. It offers account consolidation, P2P and mobile remote deposit capture.
If you would like to find out more about P2P payments or CO-OP Sprig, please contact Remote Transaction Resources (www.curesources.coop/rtr.html). You can contact me directly at bmccue@curesources.coop.