NEW YORK—Chase says it has an answer for the digital wallet woes.
Digital wallets, such as Apple Pay and Samsung Pay, still struggle for widespread acceptance from consumers, as CUToday.info has extensively reported.
Citigroup is now offering a new service that could increase the likelihood that consumers' preferred payment method will be accepted by more merchants.
Currently, many e-commerce companies, utilities and other providers accept just one or two digital wallets, or in some cases, none. Citigroup says its new digital consumer payments business will establish relationships and connections with all the wallet providers, as well as "request for pay" services that debit directly from bank accounts, relieving merchants of that burden and ensuring they can accept the various payment methods, USA Today reported.
Managing All Relationships
“We will manage all the relationships,” Manish Kohli, global head of payments and receivables for Citigroup, told USA Today.
The new business will also ensure seamless transactions overseas. For example, even if an Uber customer uses a certain digital wallet in the U.S., a similar purchase in Europe could be denied or delayed because of the unusual location. Citigroup’s global presence will ensure it goes through, Kohli said.
While the offering is targeted at merchants such as Netflix, Amazon and Uber, it’s also “about giving choice and control to consumers to stay with whatever method of payment they like,” Kohli told the publication.