The Growth of Electronic Person-to-Person Payments

Abstract

Credit cards, debit cards, and ACH have increased the share of electronic payments both at point-of-sale locations and for bill payments. Although the adoption of electronic payments in the consumer-to-consumer payments setting has lagged behind these other areas, online person-to-person payment systems have recently been reporting strong growth. This article analyzes the growth of online P2P payments, the problems and opportunities faced by payment providers, and the future of electronic C2C payments.