Re: Not just google
Regarding PAYM - that still seems rather invasive as well as a rather roundabout and potentially insecure way of making payments to me. When I need to pay someone, regardless of whether I know them or not, I login to my bank's online service, select Make a Payment, and enter the amount, BSB and account number of the person I wish to transfer money to.
The service then offers me the option of storing those details in its own database in case I want to make another payment to that person later on. In this way, the bank builds up its own "contacts list" which relates to people I have paid, with no reference to people I just "talk to."
I would prefer my bank to store its own contacts list instead of using the one on my phone, because it has dedicated PCI-compliant security measures to protect that data. My desire not to give my bank access to my contacts is not about me worrying that my bank manager might find out I've been bonking his wife or something, it's more that my phone contacts list is not as secure as a banking system and could be compromised by malware or other form of intrusion, such that a payment I intend to make to a friend gets redirected to a scammer instead. At least with a contact list maintained by the bank under their own system, they have better control over who can access it and how it gets used, which is simply better security all round.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
