Getting that girl’s number in a bar has a whole new meaning today. Paym, a person-to-person payments system that allows for the transferring of funds via mobile phone number, was launched today in the United Kingdom by a number of banks. Customers of these banks will be able to quickly and easily transfer money to each — other up to £250, or $420, depending on the limit set by their institution — using only the recipient’s mobile phone number. We think payments via mobile phone number might even be easier than the payments via email address used by Google Wallet, Square Cash and PayPal. Paym sounds about as easy as M-Pesa, the international telco initiative for customers that generally do not have bank accounts. While initial news reports today focused on delays some account-holders will face in using the long-promised service, from this side of the pond the situation looks enviable. The service connects nine banks: Bank of Scotland, Barclays, Cumberland Building Society, Danske Bank, Halifax, HSBC, Lloyds Bank, Santander and TSB. Later this year more banks will join: Clydesdale Bank, first direct, Isle of Man Bank, NatWest, RBS International trading as NatWest, The Royal Bank of Scotland, and Yorkshire Bank. By year’s end, 9 out of […]
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