Seguridad del sistema versus seguridad operacional

5.4.1 Payment methods for online shopping

For years, the dominance of credit cards in online transactions remained unchallenged. However, changing market trends have created new opportunities for alternative (non-credit card) payment methods and practices, which have made rapid headway among consumers and merchants.

In the Canadian market, which is only about one-tenth the size of the U.S market size, online businesses and consumers have faced limitations when it comes to paying online. The banks have created an environment where almost all online sales are by credit card56_{. Credit card} volume continues to grow but at a slower rate than debit, while online banking is now firmly established as the primary method employed by Canadians to carry out banking operations. In 2010, 45% of Canadians carried out financial transactions online, compared to 35% in 200857_.

56

The Paypers - Online Paypers, Vol.2, Issue 22, 2009

57

Figure 7: 'Online payment methods used in Canada’. Source: Nielsen Canada – ‘Online shopping’, 2008

Overall, the Canadian banking landscape continues to show a certain degree of fragmentation when it comes to the main preferred methods of conducting financial transactions. Thus, 23% of Canadians continue to rely on ABMs (automatic banking machines) to do their banking, while the same percentage of consumers (23%) prefers to visit bank branches for the same purpose58 .

As far as the bill payment market segment is concerned, the supremacy of online bill payments is more pronounced: 45% of Canadian consumers choose to pay bills online, while only 19% of them resort to pre-authorized debit or credit transfers and 12% visit a bank branch to carry out bill payments. A small number of Canadians pay their bills via ABMs. When it comes to routine transactions the internet is Canadians` preferred banking channel. But for major transactions, such as a home loan, consumers would rather visit a bank’s branch, and only a small

percentage would turn to the internet.

Just like their US counterparts, Canadian customers are still reluctant to conduct their financial management transactions via the mobile channel. In fact, 51.2% of US respondents and 60.3% of Canadian participants involved in a research59 claimed that they did not trust the security of mobile banking, compared to the 21.7% of US and 26.3% of Canadian respondents lack confidence in internet banking. Canadian consumers favor internet banking overall (49.4%), which is 10 percentage points higher than US customers. Nevertheless, for major transactions, both Canadian and US consumers prefer branches (76.2% in the US, 85.2% in Canada), with internet banking following at 21.1% for the US and 11.9% for Canada.

58

The Canadian Bankers Association, July 2010

59

Empathica – The Empathica Consumer Insights, September 2010 79% 27% 3% 2% 2% Credit card PayPal Money transfer Prepaid card Debit card

Online payments 2011 - North America

5.4.2 Remittance trends

The population of Canada has grown by more than 129,300 people from July 2010 to October 2010. More than 65% of those people were new immigrants to the country. Within those 3 months, 84,200 new immigrants arrived in Canada.

For immigrants, online remittances are the most cost-competitive cross-border transfer method, given that there are no infrastructure costs to be recovered. As researchers have forecast a high growth in this market, numerous mobile money transfer initiatives are currently being deployed worldwide and Canada is no exception. The ability to send cross- border remittances via SMS text message makes the service extremely convenient, as there is no need to visit remittance locations or offices.

With this in mind, Western Union made its money transfer service available via the Zoompass mobile wallet app, developed by the Canadian m-commerce company EnStream. Zoompass users in Canada can send funds directly from their mobile wallets. Moreover, recipients can pick up their funds in cash at over 380,000 Western Union agent locations in 200 countries and territories. In addition, Zoompass members can send mobile-to-mobile transactions to

subscribers of mobile phone companies with whom Western Union has launched the Mobile Money Transfer service, such as Globe Telecom and Smart Communications in the Philippines. hyperWALLET, another Canadian provider of global payment services, announced the launch of a Canada to Philippines mobile remittance service dubbed hyperREMIT. The offering is set to allow Canadian customers to send funds to recipients in the Philippines. The enhanced service enables remittance transfers via bank deposits, cash pickups and door-to-door delivery, as well as via smart money transfers and prepaid airtime top-ups. Canadian customers can send funds over the phone or SMS, and money is expected to be available to Philippine recipients within one business day.

There are a number of other developments in the Canadian market:

— Interac eTransfer: In December 2010, Canadian national payment association Interac

added an email money transfer service to its existing portfolio of online banking services. Interac’s new service has been dubbed Interac e-Transfer which is a simple way to send and receive money directly from one bank account to another. All the customers need is access to online or mobile banking through a participating financial institution, and they can send money to anyone with an email address or mobile phone number and a bank account in Canada, without sharing any personal or financial information.

In the future, more consumers will adopt this type of technology, since many international consumers do not have internet access and have to rely on their phones for the bare necessities, which also include fund transfers.

— UseMyServices: UseMyServices is already well-established within the payment processing

industry. The company's core product, dubbed UseMyFunds, is a proprietary technology that lets customers pay for online purchases directly from the bank accounts in 11 countries.

UseMyServices has developed an online technology which enables customers to purchase items and services online and pay for them using their existing financial services provider. The system can be used with banks which allow for account to account transfers, online bill pay or email money transfers. The company works with resellers who service vertical markets such as retail, airlines, subscriptions, travel, gaming and dating.

— Mint.com: US online personal finance software service provider Mint.com, a division of

Intuit, has made available its services for Canadian users. As a result, Mint.com is set to enable Canadian users to connect to Canadian banking financial institutions, as well as to US banks and credit unions. Moreover, the Mint.com mobile apps for the iPhone and for Android-powered mobile phones are expected to be available on the iTunes Canada app store and on the Android Market. Since being acquired by Intuit, Mint.com counts over 4.5 million users and 16.000 financial institutions.