A study that polled close to 3,000 credit cardholders revealed that the use of mobile payments in Singapore has grown by more than half since last year. This is even though consumers pointed to security as the chief concern for them not using a mobile wallet.

Releasing the findings of a study on “credit card satisfaction” on Tuesday (Nov 28), market research company J D Power said that usage of mobile payments in Singapore was at 40 per cent this year, compared to 26 per cent last year. This was comparative to Hong Kong’s 41 per cent, and significantly higher than the proportion in the United States (23 per cent) and Australia (14 per cent).

Mr Anthony Chiam, service industry practice lead at the research firm, said: “Singapore cardholders are increasingly moving toward mobile payment platforms. However, in order for cardholders to fully embrace the adoption of these services, trust is paramount and security concerns must be first addressed.”

The firm said that with Singapore striving to become a cashless economy, credit card users here are following suit by increasingly using mobile payment services, compared to those in other key global markets. The study — which examined customer satisfaction with the products and services provided by their main financial institution — also showed that the lack of rewards and loyalty points, as well as low merchant acceptance at retail stores or restaurants, are the main reasons that cardholders do not use their primary card for mobile wallets.

The key factors that cardholders look for when selecting their primary card are the rewards programme, cashback schemes, and discounts and promotions. Cardholders with access to a rewards programme spend 29 per cent more than those who do not have such a programme.

In terms of consumer’s satisfaction levels with their credit card services, they ranked American Express, Standard Chartered and DBS as the top three service providers.

The study, which includes 11 major credit card issuers in the market, measures overall satisfaction by six key factors: Interaction, billing and payment, credit card terms, benefits and services, rewards and problem resolution. The poll was done from September to October.

Source:
courtesy of TODAY

by Angela Tang

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