THE ERA of the cashless society has moved a step closer, following the launch yesterday in Britain of a new mobile telephone payment system by Barclays Bank – the first of its kind in Europe.
Using Barclay’s PingIt, a customer will be able to send up to £300 daily to another person knowing only their mobile number, as long as the receiver’s bank details are registered with ‘PingIt’.
For now, only Barclays’ 11.9 million current-account holders will be able to send money, using a five-digit PIN, though anyone with a UK current account can receive funds through the system.
From March, current-account holders with all UK banks will be able to send money using the service: “I’m sure we’ll soon be wondering what we did before it,” said Anthony Jenkins, chief executive of Barclays retail and business banking.
No bank details are exchanged during the transfer, which takes 30 seconds and which is free, for now. Both senders and recipients will be notified by SMS about transactions.
Users can download an app for iPhone, Android or Blackberry phones. Those without smart-phones can use PingIt’s website to make or receive payments.
For now, the service is limited to personal accounts, though Barclays said the daily sums allowable should make it useful for “sole traders such as window cleaners or plumbers”.
Mr Jenkins said, in time, bill payments and international payments could be added to the software.
Besides the minimum payment of £1 and the maximum of £300, Barclays has also set a total daily limit that can be sent of £300 and a £5,000 limit on the maximum that can be received by any one account.
Saying it will revolutionise the way people use money, Mr Jenkins cited examples such as friends splitting the cost of dinner, repaying a borrowed £10, or sending money to a son or daughter at university.
Sean Gilchrist, Barclays’ head of digital banking, said the app employs “industry-standard encryption” and can be automatically wiped if a mobile is lost. But it should be locked when not in use.
However, Rachel Springall of the Moneyfacts comparison website warned that customers would need to be careful to use the correct mobile number and to send the right amount.
Users must be registered to receive payments – pending payments will be held for 24 hours and the instruction will be cancelled if the recipient has not registered during that time.
The Barclays move puts it into competition against the eBay-owned PayPal, which already has a similar app, although the bank – with its high-street presence – believes it has a branding advantage over eBay.
