2013 Paybefore Awards Europe: Outstanding Mobile Wallet or App (June 2013)
The in-market mobile wallet or mobile application that (1) provides end users with value-added features and/or enhances payment capabilities, user decision-making or loyalty, and (2) provides retailers with a strong value proposition.
Best in Category: O2 Wallet
Open to customers of any bank or MNO who want to shop, send money, compare prices and receive special offers. Includes a prepaid card for offline payments.
 |
 |
- O2 Money
- Telefónica UK
O2 scored a coup when it launched the U.K.’s first mobile wallet, enabling consumers to send and receive money and make online and POS purchases regardless of their mobile network or bank.
As one of the U.K.’s largest mobile network operators, O2 first pushed the boundaries of its core telecom services by launching a prepaid Visa card, the O2 Money Card. The O2 Wallet expanded the brand’s offerings further by providing consumers with diverse shopping and payment tools, plus P2P money transfers and the mobile app tools to track and manage spending.
O2 Wallet’s biggest allure is its range of payment options, including storing up to five different payment cards in the wallet for simpler payments online, linking a bank account to the wallet and loading funds to the O2 Money Card. O2 Wallet users also can send funds to another person using only a mobile phone number. Recipients are notified with a text message with instructions on how to download the O2 Wallet to retrieve their money.
One of O2 Wallet’s core benefits is the shopping enhancements its mobile app provides, including discounts and deals from 120 retailers and additional personalized offers. Users can compare prices and features of products through O2 Wallet, and the app includes a feature to scan barcodes on products to check prices. With customer financial details stored in the cloud and a unique password to verify transactions, O2 Wallet provides additional security and peace of mind by sending cardholders a text notification with each purchase.
 |
 |
Winner: Barclaycard Payment App
- Barclaycard
Barclaycard gave contactless payments a big push in the U.K. with its app enabling anyone with a Samsung Galaxy S III mobile phone to tap to pay at thousands of U.K. retail outlets equipped with NFC technology. Particularly appealing to tech-savvy, younger consumers, the app houses a stored value account that users can load with funds from any credit or debit card, regardless of bank affiliation. Once activated, users can tap to pay for any purchase under £20 (US$31.34) at more than 143,000 U.K. retailers with NFC POS technology, such as McDonald’s, Subway and Boots shops, speeding up transactions and reducing queues by eliminating the need to fumble for cash.
To drive interest and get users in the habit of tapping to pay, Barclaycard gives all new customers 5 percent cash back on contactless payments during their first three months. Barclaycard sweetened the deal during the initial 30-day promotional phase in the fall of 2012, preloading £50 (US$78.34) into each new account. Users may download the app from the Google Play store, link a payment card to their accounts through the Barclaycard Website, and tap to pay with the reassurance that Barclaycard guarantees all contactless transactions against fraud.
With its mobile app, Barclaycard is expanding its reach beyond its own customers and helping drive uptake of mobile payments in the U.K. by enabling payments with the country’s No. 1-selling mobile device.
Winner: RBS Group Retail Banking Apps
- RBS Group
- Monitise
Royal Bank of Scotland broke the mold when setting out to create a mobile banking app. The RBS Group Retail Banking went above and beyond the routine process of optimizing online services for mobile devices by creating apps from the ground up designed to precisely mesh with the latest capabilities of today’s handsets. Recognizing the limitations of mobile devices’ small screens and keypads, RBS worked with Monitise to build a set of speedy yet powerful apps harnessing highly secure processes to help customers track their financial moves anywhere, at any time, via Apple iOS, Android, BlackBerry and Windows devices.
Basing its design on international bank-grade security, RBS created apps that enable RBS and NatWest customers to check account balances and transaction history, locate the nearest ATM, set up alerts and bill payments, and make real-time P2P transfers to other RBS and NatWest customers, as well as anyone with a valid U.K. Visa card, using only the recipient’s mobile phone number. With an eye to the future, RBS designed its apps to accommodate continuous expansion of services while keeping commands simple and intuitive, with an easy registration process.
The result: More consumers getting hooked on accessing RBS’s services through its robust mobile apps—customers access accounts via the mobile app up to 10 times more often than online—reducing the bank’s transactional and administrative costs and giving customers another reason to stick around.
