UK launches faster payments mobile service in 2014

I don't normally place press releases on the blog, but this one's an important one so here it is pretty much unedited:

Paying a friend or business on your mobile as
easily as sending a text is set to become a mainstream option in spring 2014,
when the Payments Council’s new mobile payments service launches.

The new
service will enable secure payments to be made directly to or from an account
without the need to disclose the sort code and account number, by simply using
a mobile phone number as a proxy. Eight financial institutions representing 90% of UK current accounts have already committed to offering
the new service from spring 2014, with discussions continuing for more
institutions to join.

The eight firms are:

• Barclays
• Cumberland Building Society
• Danske Bank
• HSBC Bank plc
• Lloyds Banking Group plc
• Metro Bank PLC
• Royal Bank of Scotland plc
• Santander UK plc

While
there are existing ways to pay using a mobile, the collaborative Payments
Council project marks the first service with the potential to link up every
bank account in the country with a mobile number.

Adrian Kamellard, Chief Executive of the Payments
Council, said:

“The mobile
payments project is a fantastic example of the unique role the Payments Council
can play in delivering far-reaching, innovative improvements for customers.
This new service will offer a simple, secure way to split a bill for dinner,
receive money from a friend or pay a tradesman without needing to remember or
share account details.” 

Shortly before launch, participating financial institutions will invite
customers to register via their online banking service, mobile app or other
approved method to provide their mobile phone number and confirm which account
they want to link it to. More details about the industry-wide registration
process and precise launch date will be announced in due course.

The new mobile payments service will move money
directly between accounts using tried and tested payment schemes: the Faster
Payments service, which processed more than 800 million online and phone
banking payments in 2012; and the LINK network, which processed 3.1 billion
real-time ATM withdrawals last year.

Over
the next year, the Payments Council’s delivery programme is
continuing the work needed to set rules defining minimum service standards for
security, speed and other technical requirements. This includes comprehensive end-to-end testing, preparing and
implementing the pre-launch registration campaign and speaking with other
interested financial institutions to ensure the service is made available to
the highest possible number of customers.

This
final phase of the mobile payments project follows the on-time completion in December 2012 of
the central database that enables banks to securely store their customers’
mobile phone numbers and link them to their account details. The Payments Council will also
continue to test and enhance the capacity of the central database and work with
the participating financial institutions to ensure the operation of the service
is as easy as possible for customers.