3.2 million people registered for Paym mobile service

Updated

More than three million people have now registered for a mobile payments service enabling them to transfer cash as easily as texting.

Mobile payments service Paym said that by December 2015, 3.2 million people had registered for it with one of the 17 participating banks and building societies.

More than £146 million has been sent using Paym since the service launched in April 2014.

The number of Paym payments sent has nearly doubled every six months, with 1.46 million payments sent in the second half of 2015 compared with 774,628 payments sent in the first six months of last year.

The average value of a Paym payment dipped below £50 for the first time in the last three months of 2015, with £49.48 being sent on average, suggesting a move towards the service being used more often for smaller, everyday amounts, the service said.

Paym, pronounced "pay em", helps people to transfer cash via their mobile by using the recipient's phone number rather than needing their bank account number and sort code.

People need to actively opt into the service by registering their mobile number alongside a nominated current account in order to receive money into that account through Paym.

They do not have to register to send money through Paym, but their bank or building society does need to be taking part in the scheme. The service is integrated into the user's existing mobile banking app.

Craig Tillotson, chairman of Paym, said: "More Paym payments were made in the last six months than the whole previous year, so it seems plenty of people have cottoned on to using their contacts for more than calls and texts."

More than 40 million customers representing more than nine out of 10 current accounts have the ability to register for Paym, if they want to.

The service has been rolled out across banks and building societies since its launch in 2014.

Customers of Bank of Scotland, Barclays, Clydesdale Bank, Cumberland Building Society, Danske Bank, First Direct, Halifax, HSBC, Isle of Man Bank, Lloyds Bank, Nationwide Building Society, NatWest, Santander, TSB, Ulster Bank and Yorkshire Bank are able to send and receive Paym payments. RBS customers are able to receive Paym payments with the ability to send payments coming soon for these customers.

A similar mobile payments service to Paym, called Pingit, was launched by Barclays in 2012 and is available to Barclays and non-Barclays customers.

Advertisement