“Paper or plastic? Or smartphone?”

From buying groceries to concert tickets in our technology driven world, this could be the new catch phrase to describe your payment preference. Consumers purchase products daily: swiping cards, entering PIN numbers and breezing through transactions without thinking about the purchase mechanics. But depending on how and where a consumer pays for a product, there could be seven or more players facilitating that transaction.

Banks have always been one of these players, but other types of companies (especially Internet and telecommunication companies) are entering the payments business, giving consumers more choices about how to purchase products and simultaneously wading into highly regulated areas of activity. While consumers gain new ways of purchasing, they often harbor security and trust concerns, especially for transactions using smartphones.