I had a bad dream in which I had traveled to the past and kept getting into trouble because there were no ATMs and I was back on banker’s time. Nowadays, you don’t even need to go to the ATM to make payments or get some banking done.

This year Americans can put their mobile devices to work for them by turning their smartphones and tablets into financial remote controls. As technology continues to improve everyday life, Pageonce, a daily finance service for mobile devices, predicts the future of financial services will be driven by mobile.

“Americans are fed up with the status quo, and demanding a better way to deal with their money and bills,” said Guy Goldstein, Pageonce CEO. “Rather than getting lost in the details and fine print, the shift is toward simplifying finances — people just want to know exactly where they stand at any time.”

2012 trends that will impact financial services:

1) Technology companies will emerge as the primary payment gatekeepers. Consumers crave the simple experiences they get from companies like Apple, Amazon, PayPal and Pageonce. Traditional financial institutions are not keeping up, and risk being pushed to the back-office. Banks will continue to lag behind while consumer tech companies take control of the customer experience.
2) Smartphones will become the dominant access point for online banking. As consumers shift more time from their computers to their mobile devices, online banking will follow. As they did with e-commerce a decade ago, consumers will get past nagging security concerns and do their finances and bill pay on their smartphones.
3) Americans will embrace electronic receipts and bills and lose the paper. The US Postal Service is downsizing significantly, and billions of dollars are wasted each year on paper that piles up and gets thrown away. Consumers will ditch their checkbooks, cancel paper bills and opt to for email receipts and online bill pay. Electronic bills will be as common as airline e-tickets.
4) Mobile will be a catalyst to electronic person-to-person (P2P) payments. Companies are making massive investments in person-to-person payment networks, which allow people and small businesses to forego cash and checks, and pay each other electronically. Mobile will spark growth in this area, allowing people to send each other money via their smartphones.
5) Personalized deals on your phone will go mainstream. No more massage and nail salon offers to the masses. No more coupon clipping. Consumers will look for — and use — personalized offers, deals and coupons directly from their smartphones.