Mobile payments: the context is key

There is a lot of activity in Europe and around the world these days around mobile payments. Most of this activity is in the form of promotion and market “drum-beating” by technology providers with vested interests and a positive business case from the success of mobile payments. However for banks and financial institutions mobile payments present an interesting dilemma. On the one hand gut feel and preliminary investigations suggest that there is no business case, on the other hand not getting involved now could mean a competitive disadvantage if mobile payments do become successful.