BoA CEO Says Payments Tech Payoff A Ways Away

For banks, the payoff for payments may be a long time coming.

Reuters reported that, as noted by Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan, it will take more than a decade before banks will see the fruits of labor and capital sunk into payments technologies. The costs tied to processing paper checks and using cash (in cold, hard currency) still is a real expense for banks. The CEO said that a decade may have to pass before initiatives like Zelle gain traction and make a dent financially for these firms. Cash is here for the next 10–15 years, said Moynihan. The remarks were made at a conference hosted by The Clearinghouse, a payments trade group.

“Even though mobile wallets, credit cards and debit cards all grow, you still have a lot of cash and a lot of other things, so it will take time for customers to change,” Reuters quoted the executive as stating in the wake of a panel discussion. He said that 10 percent of his own bank’s costs are tied to paper currency.