Google, Apple, Amazon, PayPal and Intuit come together to enhance innovation in financial services

Amazon, Apple, Google, Intuit and PayPal have formed a coalition called Financial Innovation Now in an attempt at "greater innovation" in financial services. The aim is to improve financial tools and services, increase convenience and help users save money and lower costs.

Brian Peters, executive director of Financial Innovation Now, said: "Innovation is coming to financial services, and now is the time for Washington to help enable a modern financial system that is more accessible, affordable, and secure. This alliance of remarkably innovative companies brings a new voice to Washington's financial conversations, and we look forward to engaging on a wide range of opportunities. Whether it is protecting consumers, growing small businesses, or promoting financial literacy and savings, Financial Innovation Now wants policymakers to understand how new technologies can help solve today's policy challenges."

The alliance says it is working to improve the way consumers and businesses manage money and conduct commerce, while it believes the financial innovation services hold the potential to improve the way consumers and small businesses function. The alliance claims to be working with policymakers and stakeholders to ensure such initiatives encourage the growth and adoption of new financial services technologies and products.

The coalition promises to expand opportunities for consumers to have proper financial tools and enable small businesses to grow and succeed. It aims to enable real-time payments clearing processes, expand the online marketplace for consumers and small business lending.

The group notes that more than two billion people worldwide are without basic financial services, including some ten million households in the US alone. Modern technologies such as harnessing the internet and mobile platforms can help the underserved consumers, believes the coalition.

"A technological transformation is going to make financial services more accessible, more affordable and more secure. The challenge in Washington is making sure policymakers understand that, and they're comfortable with it, and they don't apply old rules to new technology," Peters has been quoted by Apple Insider as saying.