Though the mobile payment scuttlebutt mostly centers on digital wallet updates, ING Direct splashed headlines last week by debuting Bump P2P Payment technology for a population of its iPhone checking account customers.  Beyond the direct bank strutting its P2P innovative stuff, the rollout — much like PayPal’s mobile P2P – may just help nudge customers’ comfort levels closer to embracing smartphones as a payment method and foster their addiction for NFC’s eventual liftoff.

This point surfaced in a call Bank Innovation had with Rudy Wolfs, chief information officer and chief marketing officer at ING Direct, last week. Indeed, Wolfs tells Bank Innovation that though NFC is an emerging technology gaining popularity, it “hasn’t settled among big players.” And because of its somewhat limbo-alive status, Wolfs says Bump is a step toward introducing customers to that future payment style today, in part, because it’s an incarnation of NFC itself.

Bump is a “more open and easy to implement solution for the mobile space,” says Wolfs.

Plus, waiting for NFC’s birth would create a missed revenue opportunity for banks.

“Cash is no longer king,” says Wolfs.

Because of the payment trend of consumers going cashless, ING Direct’s mobile product pipeline, like many banks, is fruitful. For one, Wolfs reveals that ING will continue to explore future versions of Bump, as well as introduce the capability to other devices in “the coming future.” Additionally, he alerted Bank Innovation that ING Direct is working on remote deposit capture deployment, which he expects to hit this year. 

All of these mobile efforts underscore ING Direct’s mission.

“Saving customers time and money is our focus,” he says, explaining that both efforts require the bank to continuously seek new ways to let customers transact and interact in the world of money.