Speaking of out of left field, did you hear that Rogers filed papers with the Ministry of Finance under Canada’s Bank act to launch Rogers Bank (Banque Rogers in French). Rogers is an extremely competitive company, who never wants to leave a dollar on the table. Just look at Chatr which launched to go head-to-head against WIND Mobile, Public Mobile and Mobilicity. To their credit are still very much one of the few Canadian telecos who is constantly innovating, or at least trying different things even when they are bad ideas.
Rogers already handles many wireless transactions through their billing system and mobile commerce is only going to grow as mobile adoption grows and consumers feel more secure about mobile transactions. Rogers will not be looking to launch a full-scale bank, but they will look to leverage they customer base and investments in mobility to jump into the mobile commerce pool.
“We have no plans to become a full-service deposit-taking financial institution,” Rogers spokesperson Carly Suppa said.
“The license, if granted, would give us the flexibility to pursue a niche credit card opportunity to our customers should this make sense at a future date.”
This isn’t a new space, a number of Canadian retailers offer some type of credit card to customers, Canadian Tire, Loblaws and Sears, which each earn a healthy profit off the interest that clients pay. Rogers has an extensive portfolio of products and solutions including cable, magazines, mobile and now home monitoring.
Companies such as Payfirma and NetSecure have each launched their own mobile payment solutions, and Visa Canada also has been taking more steps into the mobile payment space. As their wireless footprint continues to grow in Canada, the ability to offer clients credit is a natural fit.