Mobile payments to surpass $1T by 2017

MANILA, Philippines - Worldwide purchase volume over mobile devices will exceed $1 trillion by the year 2017, according to the latest report of the IDC Financial Insights. But IDC Worldwide Payment Strategies practice director Aaron McPherson said total mobile payments market represent only a small fraction, just 2.5 percent, of the total transaction volume that mobile payments could, at least theoretically, address. He said that number, which includes cash, check, ACH and cards, is closer to $50 trillion. McPherson said that emerging markets are providing a good story when it comes to the growth of mobile payments. “There’s a good leapfrog story to be told (in emerging markets),” McPherson said, with consumers in those markets adopting mobile payments at a higher rate since they lack other options. “The banking sector is so underdeveloped that you can see it being leapfrogged.”