US Bancorp is working on launching US Bank Pay.
The disclosure was made by a company executive at Bank Innovation 2015, this blog’s annual event in Seattle this week.
The executive, Niti Badarinath, senior vice president and head of mobile at US Bank, offered few details, and no timing. However, Badarinath said “it is something we are working on.”
The presumptive bank-branded mobile wallet that is in the works would mark a return for banks to an idea that had largely been shelved. But with Apple, Google and Samsung all unveiling mobile wallets (and all with the “Pay” brand name), it is not surprising that USB would want to own a piece of that payments business, including its associated customer relationships.
Indeed, Badarinath explained that US Bank has changed its view of digital innovation, no longer looking at single-channel innovations, but taking an “omni-channel” view of the services it offers. With that view, Badarinath explained that USB officials now presume that their customers ask, “Why do I need a banking app and a wallet app?”
US Bank Pay would offer USB customers another piece of the personal finance puzzle, as well as position the bank to access the trove of payments transaction data that comes with an avidly used mobile wallet.
With US Bank on the doorstep of a mobile wallet, as well as Samsung’s recent entrance into mobile payments with its acquisition of LoopPay and introduction of Samsung Pay, it is fair to expect a waterfall of competition in the mobile payments space that Apple has carved out. Or, to put it another way, “Pay” will be coming to just about every brand you know.