Can Banks create an ecosystem like Apple or Microsoft?

How many times have you witnessed the war between Apple fanboys and Windows pragmatists in the comments section all over the web? Apple and Microsoft reap benefits by increasing the switching cost for their users as they get used to things working seamlessly within an ecosystem. While this kind of ecosystem is established in technology industry, can we envision a payment ecosystem created by banks? 

Apple, Amazon, Paypal and Google are taking lead in creating a payment ecosystem  (spanning virtual and physical stores) because they realize how profitable it would be to dominate the payment industry. But, I personally feel that customers trust their banks more than these technology companies. No doubt that banks have the advantage of TRUST, which is key to adoption of any payment method.

So, what are the possible use-cases in a Banking ecosystem? 

Some of the common services that can be provided by the banking app are: 

1. Buying coffee at the local cafe
2. Paying at the parking lot
3. Splitting the lunch bill
4. Getting promotional offers from retailers
5. Online Shopping
6. Recharging contactless travel card
7. Paying the utilities bill

If I were to translate these requirements into an overarching mission statement for these banks, it would be something like:

Wherever our customers need to transact money, we will provide an easy-to-use, consistent and secure interface to handle the transaction.

3 out of 4 people in UK are estimated to have smartphones by 2016, which makes the scenario above realistic. So, the digital strategist at these banks should start thinking in a systematic way, and identify the scenarios where there is an opportunity to serve their customers. Forming alliances with partners would be key for the banks to create such an ecosystem, and finally they have to rethink themselves as service providers of banking, shopping, and bill payments as different services to their customers through a single app.