In the financial news Apple has joined forces with other rival tech companies to help prevent lawmakers from ‘inadvertently’ stifling innovation in the field of financial services. The coalition, dubbed ‘Financial Innovation Now‘, is based in Washington D.C. The main aim of the coalition seems to be to ensure that legislation that affects it’s member companies (like Apple Pay etc) is also tech friendly. Other Online Service providers that are a part of this coalition are PayPal, Intuit and Android Pay. Amazon is also a part of this coalition.
The organization uses very democratically correct language and states that its aim is to make sure that politicians don’t make things difficult for tech companies through legislation that is poorly thought out. (Obviously an example of such an instance is the law proposed by Missouri lawmaker Democratic Rep. Joshua Peters who proposed a new law that would require shoppers to show photo ID whenever they used a mobile wallet service) Financial Innovation Now also expects to tackle other issues surrounding technology and financial services like prevention of fraud, security, real-time payments, basic access to financial services and online lending.
According to the executive director of Financial Innovation Now, Brian Peters, “This alliance of remarkably innovative companies brings a new voice to Washington’s financial conversations, and we look forward to engaging on a wide range of opportunities,” He continued on to say that “Whether it is protecting consumers, growing small businesses, or promoting financial literacy and savings, Financial Innovation Now wants policymakers to understand how new technologies can help solve today’s policy challenges.”
The goals of the coalition is to help reduce the barriers and increase access for the undeserved as well as enabling real-time payment clearing processes and expanding the online marketplace by ‘unlocking the power of financial applications’. The coalition believes in empowering consumers by improving their accessibility to financial tools and services. This will also help make everything convenient and easy to use.
Over recent years, mobile payment services have seen an increase in popularity. Apple Pay, which was released in 2014, is the latest success story for mobile payment services. It is supported currently by hundreds of banks and by the end of 2015 it is estimated that it will be accepted in 1.5 million retail locations in the United states alone.