Consumer Bill Payments: A Market Overview

New York, NY, USA November 15, 2004

Consumer Bill Payments: A Market Overview

Celent predicts that 29 percent of consumer bill payments in the US will be paid over the Internet by 2007, up from 13 percent in 2004. Bill payments at the bank Web site will grow faster than those made at the biller Web site.

In a new report, , Celent examines the evolution of consumer bill payments in the US, the prospects of the consolidator model, and the competitive trends among technology and service providers.

Among the reports key findings is that checks share of total consumer bill payments is on the verge of crumbling. By 2007, there will be as many bill payments made over the Internet as by check. By that same year, as little as 29 percent of consumer bill payments will be settled by check, down from 53 percent in 2004.

Celent forecasts that bill payments at the bank Web site will regain momentum over the biller-direct model. Between 2004 and 2007, the number of bill payments at the bank Web site is set to grow by a 34 percent CAGR, compared to a 28 percent CAGR at the biller Web site. In the meantime, rising processing expenses will likely force banks to consider alternatives to the legacy infrastructure enabled by companies such as CheckFree, Metavante, Princeton eCom, and MasterCard RPPS. "Banks and their processing partners will be increasingly confronted with the options of making massive investments to fix the current paradigm, replacing it with a new one, or slowly patching together the old paradigm with a leaner one. Very likely, banks will opt for the latter," points out

Gwenn Bézard, senior analyst in the banking group at Celent and author of the report.

The 40-page report contains 31 figures and one table. A

table of contents is available online.

of Celent Communications' Retail Banking research service can download the report electronically by clicking on the icon to the left. Non-members should contact info@celent.com for more information.