WASHINGTON, D.C. – The World Wide Consortium (W3C) announced today a new initiative to integrate payments seamlessly into the Open Web Platform. W3C calls upon all industry stakeholders — banks, credit card companies, governments, mobile network operators, payment solution providers, technology companies, retailers and content creators — to join the new Payments Interest Group and leverage the unique ability of the Web to bridge ecosystem diversity and reach users everywhere, on any device. The result will be new business opportunities, an improved user experience for online transactions, reduced fraud and increased interoperability among traditional solutions and future payment innovations.

"The Federal Reserve is working with diverse participants and organizations to improve the payment system in ways that make it safer, faster, more efficient and accessible for everyone," said Claudia Swendseid, senior vice president at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, in a W3C press release. "We appreciate W3C's efforts in this regard and look forward to participating in the new Web Payments Interest Group."

E-commerce is thriving and predicted to reach $1.471 trillion this year, an increase of nearly 20% from last year. According to Forrester Research, one-third of those transactions will take place on a mobile device. And yet, a number of obstacles — most significantly, usability and fraud — stand in the way of even stronger growth on those devices.

"Today, payment details being stolen has outpaced all other consumer concerns worldwide to shop online," said Michel Leger, of the Ingenico Group. "Bringing together all stakeholders into this Interest Group is the opportunity to create open standards that will minimize online fraud, increase consumer confidence and improve shopping experience. Working all together will enable us to do it right."

Strengthening support for payments has the potential not just to improve usability and reduce the risk of fraud, but also to create new opportunities for businesses and consumers in areas such as coupons and loyalty programs, as well as crypto-currencies. Through mobile applications, the Web can also make "brick and mortar" transactions more secure and convenient. Although innovation is seen in mobile payment systems, the lack of standards makes it more difficult to adapt to new payment approaches or new payment providers.

To deepen the understanding of these challenges and integrate solutions into Open Web Platform, W3C has chartered a Web Payments Interest Group, chaired by Erik Anderson (Bloomberg) and David Ezell (on behalf of NACS).

Global stakeholders from all parts of the industry will enumerate use cases and scenarios, for topics such as online payments, off-line payments, "floor-limits," the role of regulations on technology, international low-value remittances, general retail payments, bill payments, and utility payments. The group will study the current gaps in Web technology regarding usability, security and privacy, and recommend new work to fill those gaps. The group will also liaise with other organizations in the payment industry that are using Web technologies to foster alignment and interoperability on a global scale.

The Interest Group will first focus on digital wallets, which many in industry consider an effective way to reduce fraud and improve privacy by having users share sensitive information only with payment providers, rather than merchants.

“W3C serves a critical role in defining the future of commerce, both online and on the go," said Gray Taylor, Conexxus executive director. "The importance of mobile commerce to our membership motivates us to support the efforts of W3C in payments, and we will continue to do so. The Web Payments Workshop was a great example of how W3C can use its well-known brand to bring together the industry thought leaders to solve hard problems on the web, and the creation of the new Web Payments Interest Group is essential to carry the momentum forward.”