Mobile payments are payment transactions done with the help of a mobile phone. Think Venmo, Square Cash and Gogle Wallet, used to transfer money and even to shop at participating retailers – all with the tap of screen. According to a recent global study on mobile payment transactions, the mobile payments market was worth $550 billion in 2015 and is expected to grow more than 39% by 2020. That is explosive growth by any calculation.
But within all the buzz and investment that is flowing into this industry lies a cautionary tale, one that AnnaMaria Lusardi, director of the Global Financial Literacy Excellence Center (GFLEC) at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., explains like this: “We can make payments with the touch of a button, but the impact of this rapid innovation is not being examined.”