The Payment Council has confirmed the launch date of a new mobile payment service that will allow Britons to link their smartphones to their current accounts.
Paym, which was announced in March 2014, will go live on 29 April. Account holders with the Bank of Scotland, Barclays, Halifax, HSBC, Lloyds Bank, Santander, TSB and Cumberland Building Society are already able to register in advance.
Clydesdale Bank, First Direct, Isle of Man Bank, NatWest, RBS and Yorkshire Bank are set to join the scheme later in the year, at which point more than nine in ten Britons will be able to transfer money using their mobile numbers alone.
According to research commissioned by the Payment Council and published to coincide with the launch, UK consumers rack up an average of £255.81 each year in ‘IOU’ notes.
“Small sums like this soon add up so it’s great that Paym will give people a new option of quickly and securely paying someone back,” commented Chief Executive Adrian Kamellard.
The news comes the same week the British Bankers’ Association announced a mobile payment “revolution” was underway in the UK.
Britons now make 5.7 million financial transactions per day using smartphones or other internet-enabled devices, according to the organisation.