Brief:

• Alphabet is bringing together its various payment brands under one name: Google Pay. The tech giant previously offered mobile payments, in-store checkout and money transfers among friends through several services such as Android Pay, Google Wallet and several others, per Bloomberg.

• Google now lets consumers use the payment information saved in their Google accounts for all its payment services, Google Vice President Pali Bhat wrote in a blog post. Google Pay is available on websites such as Airbnb, Dice, HungryHouse and Instacart, the company said. To promote the service, Google is offering several limited-time discounts with the payment service.

• Fandango, the movie ticketing company that reaches 67 million users a month, added Google Pay as a digital payment option for movie ticket purchases among its online, mobile and social platforms. The companies are offering $5 off movie ticket orders to fans using Google Pay on the Fandango Android app and entering the promo code "GooglePay2018" while supplies last.

Insight:

Google's move to unify its various payment platforms under one brand is necessary as the company confronts growing competition in the mobile payments market from Apple's rival platform. U.S. consumers have been resistant to mobile payments given the ease of paying with cash or debit and credit cards, but trends show growing popularity of contactless transactions. In addition, a growing number of banks are getting on board with their own mobile payment platforms in order to stay relevant among consumers, particularly millennials who were early adopters of financial technology for mobile transactions and person-to-person payments.

Google integrating Google Pay with well-known sites like Fandango and Airbnb could provide an early boost to the service, but the company faces considerable competition from Apple. Apple brought its P2P payments system, Apple Pay Cash, to the iOS operating system in December, and has steadily added more brand partners to Apple Pay, including Chipotle, McDonald's, Saks Fifth Avenue, Albertsons and Dick's Sporting Goods.      

Banks have been mostly focused on mobile banking applications, but they are expected to make a bigger push into payments as well, according to a survey of 706 banks this month by the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. Of those financial institutions tracking customer adoption, 54% now have more than 20% of their retail customers enrolled in mobile banking; 44% have more than 20% actively using these services.

The implementation of mobile payment services is speeding up as banks respond to competitive pressure and the industry momentum for mobile platforms, the Boston Fed said. In addition to the 24% already offering mobile payments, 40% plan to do so within two years. More than two-thirds of respondents partner or plan to partner with third-party processors, and more than half are considering a partnership with a near-field communication wallet provider. Survey participants represented 8.7% of all banks and 3.1% of all credit unions nationally.