Bank of the West is offering its customers a bevy of new ways to interact with brands and retailers thanks to integration of five of the most popular mobile wallets on the market.

Bank of the West recognizes the growing importance mobile is playing in the world of payments and financial services. To that end, the bank is hoping to keep its customers and expand what they can do with their phones thanks to these strategic partnerships.

“Bank of the West offers an array of digital payment solutions that will allow our customers to make purchases convenient and fast,” said Paul Appleton, executive vice president, consumer banking product and payment solutions, Bank of the West. “While many customers opt for the ease of a digital checkout, this solution is also a great complement to our existing mobile deposit and mobile bill pay solutions.”

Mobile payment integration
As mobile comes to dominate the digital marketplace, it is only a matter of time before mobile payments follow suit.

Mobile payments have been on a slow, steady rise in the past few years, steadily making their way to be a significant portion of retail transactions yearly.

The most important part of mobile payments, of course, is the mobile wallet option that customers use.

While some banks have opted to create their own mobile wallet systems, others choose the route of integrating with more popular third-party solutions.

That is the route being taken by Bank of the West with a new series of partnerships that puts the power of the top names in mobile payment in the hands of the bank’s customers.

Through this new series of partnerships, Bank of West customers can use their bank account with five of the top names in mobile payments.

This includes Apple Pay, Android Pay and Samsung Pay – three of the biggest payment options offered by phone manufacturers – as well as Microsoft Wallet and Mastercard’s comprehensive payment option Masterpass.

Ground floor
Mobile payments are a steadily growing part of the retail economy.

Every year, more and more customers sign up for mobile payment programs and more and more transactions are completed through them.

Bank of the West cites a Javelin report that predicts total mobile payment transactions will reach over $220 billion in 2017. Of those, in-store mobile payments will account for $30 billion.

These numbers illustrate the importance of heavy investment into mobile payment now, on the ground floor, before it truly takes off and leaves slow-acting banks in the dust.

Banks could take a cue from Mastercard, which has been steadily pushing its Masterpass system for months with new features (see story) and expanding to new markets (see story).

As mobile payment use continues to rise, smart banks and retailers will act now to ride the wave as it proliferates throughout the market.

“Consumers are rapidly adopting mobile payments,” Mr. Appleton said. “To help customers pay their way, we provide every major option available on the market today, for a simple and secure way to pay using a phone.”