Mobile Payment Solutions on the Horizon

There are a number of new mobile payment solutions on the horizon. And as we develop emerging rent payment solutions at PayLease, we’re constantly looking at innovative companies in other markets and geographies for inspiration. Here are some unique mobile payment solutions we’ve recently discovered: 

M-Pesa: “Pesa” means “money” in Swahili. This simple SMS-based solution has revolutionized banking in Kenya by allowing people to send and receive money to/from individuals or companies anywhere in the country. Prior to M-Pesa’s development, Kenyans had no means of banking.

IMPS: Created by the National Payments Corporation of India in 2010, IMPS (The Inter-Bank Mobile Payment Service) allows customers to use mobile technology to access their bank accounts and initiate interbank fund transfers. To make a payment, customers must enter a 7-digit PIN called a Mobile Money Identifier (MMID) combined with a mobile phone number. Transactions are completed instantly and can be made 24×7.

PingIt: Launched by Barclay’s UK, PingIt is a mobile payment app available on iPhone, Android and Blackberry. The app allows you to send and receive money in seconds, and unlike PayPal’s mobile payment service, PingIt does not impose a transaction fee.

With the adoption of mobile payments rapidly increasing, it seems logical that this could eventually be the preferred channel for rent payments. Is the property management industry ready to embrace mobile payment technology? Now that property management companies have finally come around to accepting online rent payments, we certainly think so.