Middletown-based Liberty Bank later this year will join the growing trend of financial institutions enabling customers to make payments to others using mobile devices.

The bank announced this week it will introduce the person-to-person payment capability some time during the fourth quarter of this year. Liberty Bank is working with a Rocky Hill-based company, Payveris, to launch the mobile payment system.

Patricia Jatkevicius, the banks executive vice president and chief marketing officer, said the relationship with Payveris will deliver a consistent service experience for our customers.

Todays consumers are discerning and they know they have choices, Jatkevicius said. To be competitive, we must offer our customers the very best products available.

Advertisement

The launch of person-to-person payment capability is the product of a three-year strategic planning process at Liberty Bank, which has 55 banking offices around the state, including 18 in the New Haven area.

As part of the process, bank officials identified the need to expand and improve Libertys digital offerings, starting with the banks website and incorporating all elements of digital banking.

Payveris was selected by bank officials after they spent 18 months evaluating vendors.

The person-to-person payment system will allow Liberty Bank customers to make payments using mobile devices even if the individuals they are paying are customers of another bank, according to Wanda Gorges, a Payveris spokeswoman.

Payveris provides similar mobile banking technology to almost 200 banks and financial institutions, Gorges said.

John Carusone, president of the Bank Analysis Center, a Hartford-based industry consulting firm, said Libertys foray into person-to-person payment capability is consistent with the banking industrys continuing evolution into digital mobile banking.

Transactions between individuals are a key element of the financial payments mechanism, which has historically been the exclusive purview of banks, Carusone said. But incursions into this space by third party providers such as PayPal, credit card merchants and others have caused banks to become defensive. This is causing them to put into place their own proprietary systems.

Liberty and Bridgeport-based Peoples United Bank are among the few Connecticut-headquartered institutions currently offering this capability, he said.

But look for other banks large and small to follow suit, Carusone said. This capability is largely a defensive posture to defend market share. Those institutions not having this capability will be vulnerable to others that do and who will seek to draw market share away.

A recent Bank of America survey found that baby boomers are becoming increasingly comfortable using mobile devices to make person-to-person payments.

Call Luther Turmelle at 203-680-9388.

Go here to see the original:

Middletown-based Liberty Bank launches person-to-person ... - New Haven Register