Report predicts mobile payments will supplant both cash and traditional plastic cards.

Mobile services aren’t just the wave of the future—they also represent a golden opportunity for the credit union movement to increase its appeal among younger consumers, small business owners and the underbanked, according to a white paper co-sponsored by the CUNA Technology Council and the CUNA Marketing & Business Development Council.

Thus far, credit unions have been slower than banks to provide tools for bill payment, point-of-sale (POS) and online purchases, and person-to-person (p2P) payments on mobile and tablet devices, according to “Enter the Mobile Payments Era: Payments Breakthrough Provides Opportunities for CUs.”

Only 16% of federally insured credit unions reported offering mobile banking to their members at the end of the first quarter in 2012, NCUA reports. Meanwhile, 73% of the top 100 U.S. banks were on board with mobile by September 2011.

Other players include telecommunications firms and other high-tech companies.

All indications point to a looming explosion in the use of these options in coming years. Mobile POS payments, for instance, are predicted to surge 283% by 2017, to $1.4 billion from $365 million in 2012, so it’s imperative to get into the game.

Some experts predict mobile payments will supplant both cash and traditional plastic cards.

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