About half of the consumers interviewed in a recent national study said they would be interested in using electronic person-to-person payments, its sponsors said.

The study was sponsored by FIS, PayPal and NACHA and conducted by eCom Advisors. Findings were presented today at the NACHA Conference in Seattle.

eCom Advisors said 48% of the respondents to a survey it administrated by Internet in February expressed interest in using electronic P2P for common needs.

The researchers also examined the viability of the role of a financial institution as a centralized money movement portal. They found that of those interested in the portal concept, 70% said they would be likely to use P2P payment within that portal and 34% said they would be willing to switch to a bank that offered electronic P2P as part of an e-payment portal, defined by FIS as a new product concept "that allows consumers to transfer money, pay bills, conduct P2P payments, and track all their money movement from a single place online."

Florida-based FIS, a global provider of banking and payment technologies, said it has integrated PayPal's P2P payment system into its online bill payment application for financial institutions.