The race to create a new-era mobile transaction system has generated a lot of hype over the last year, as the likes of ISIS, Google, American Express and several start-ups made their moves. But in the shadows of all this, another service is taking shape, with profound consequences for banks bent on maintaining a leadership stake as the mobile sweepstakes heats up.

The system being set up by Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo--a system known as clearXchange--has been positioned as a P2P service, one that could potentially challenge the king of P2P, PayPal. But as a lengthy article in Mobile Banker makes clear, there is a lot more on the line. The new service lets customers use their mobile banking apps to send money via ACH if they have an account at Bank of America, Chase or Wells Fargo. The service is expected to be free, allowing end customers to save on the traditional ACH fee.

But you have to wonder about clearXchange's potential as a merchant transactions system. Does it offer any potential in that realm at all? Google's Digital Wallet offering appears to have plans to offer P2P services as well via NFC-based transactions. One issue with clearXchange may be that it's limited to customers of the three banks. No doubt the founders are considering ways to pull in more partners. They are likely think about their POS transactions strategy as well.

At some point, people will want to know exactly how clearXchange will support merchant transactions or if it will do so at all. My sense is that this will be offered at some point in the future, but no one yet know how.

For more:
- here's the article

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