New Industry-Wide Committee Aims To Nurture Growth of Mobile Payments

The committee will gather banks, merchants and all four major mobile networks to develop best practices and business relationships for mobile payments.

The Electronic Transactions Association, a trade association representing the global electronic payments industry, is forming a new Mobile Payments Committee drawn from top companies in the mobile payments market to develop industry-wide solutions. The country's four major mobile networks - Sprint, AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon - will all participate in the committee.

Other companies participating in the committee, according to a statement released yesterday, include Google, Isis, Verizon, Wells Fargo, Capital One, American Express, Discover, Visa and PayPal. The committee will look at issues surrounding the future of mobile payments such as developing industry-wide best practices, and fostering business relationships and network integration between merchants, credit card companies, mobile networks, equipment manufacturers and banks. It will also aim to work with legislators and regulators on public policy pertaining to mobile payments and educate the public about the potential of mobile payments.

Verizon's Executive Director of Federal Relations Jackie Moran will chair the committee, which will hold its first meeting in late August and hold regular monthly meetings from then on.

"As a nascent industry, the global mobile payments market is just beginning to realize its full potential as a robust enabler of global electronic commerce," Moran said in the association's statement. "The Mobile Payments Committee is designed to ensure that the early stages of mobile payments are handled in the best possible way: with insight and ingenuity from a ll of the players - private as well as public sector - involved in the exciting future of mobile payments."

Jonathan Camhi has been an associate editor with Bank Systems & Technology since 2012. He previously worked as a freelance journalist in New York City covering politics, health and immigration, and has a master's degree from the City University of New York's Graduate School ... View Full Bio