Mobile Payments Lack Security?

Have you heard the latest rumors about mobile payments running rampant amongst consumers? In a recent blog post on the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta site, Cindy Merritt asserted that there are three common misconceptions about mobile payments.

NEXTcast Interview: 3 Common Mobile Payment Myths

Merritt, assistant director of the Retail Payments Risk Forum at the Atlanta Fed, says Myth 1 pertains to the idea that mobile banking and mobile payments are essentially the same. The other two myths relate to lack of regulatory and security oversight. In this exclusive NEXTcast interview, Market Platform Dynamics CEO Karen Webster asks Merritt to break down fact from fiction and examine how mobile payments are viewed differently in other parts of the world. Merritt also offers advice to help banks and merchants dispel mobile payment misconceptions.

Related: Managing the Risks and Security Threats of Mobile Payments by Bill Gajda (Head of Global Mobile Product at Visa Inc.)

Bio: Cynthia Merritt is the assistant director of the Retail Payments Risk Forum at the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, where she is responsible for managing research initiatives focused on emerging risks in legacy and alternative retail payment systems.  Cynthia helped launch the Retail Payments Risk Forum as a new department and special initiative at the Atlanta Fed in 2008 in response to the recognized growth in electronic payment adoption and new innovative payment schemes.  She is responsible for managing staff research initiatives on a variety of payments topics, with a strong focus on mobile banking and payments.  Cynthia is also editor for the Retail Payments Risk Forum’s Portals and Rails blog, as well as a major article contributor.

Prior to assuming this role, she worked as a senior bank policy analyst in the Policy and Supervisory Studies Group in the Atlanta Fed’s Supervision and Regulation Division, where she was responsible for research and analysis of trends affecting the banking industry.  Prior to joining the Federal Reserve in 2004, Cindy worked in various capacities for the Comptroller of the Currency as an analyst and a senior national bank examiner.  Her career with the OCC spanned 14 years and included extensive work with problem and complex national bank organizations, with a specialized focus on commercial credit, wealth management, and capital market activities.  She received a BS degree in finance with a banking concentration from the University of South Carolina.  She also completed the ABA’s National Graduate Trust School at Northwestern University.