News

Walk-in bill payments to total $80 billion by 2009

July 30, 2006

BOSTON - A study by the Waltham, Mass.-based Mercator Advisory Group found that walk-in bill payments through tellers and kiosks are expected to total more than $80 billion by 2009.

In the United States, walk-in billpay services have historically been dominated by non-bank providers, including direct billers, money-service businesses and retail outlets. As a result, a large number of unbanked and underbanked customers remained outside the reach of financial insitutions, Mercator said in a news release.

"With the introduction of new services like insurance and prepaid, walk-in bill payment is becoming a wedge between the underserved markets and traditional banking relationship," said Michael Friedman, analyst and director of Mercator Advisory Group's Emerging Technologies Service. "Banks will want to rethink their walk-in payments strategy to expand their customer base and foster organic growth."