What’s new?

Customers of Clydesdale Bank, Isle of Man Bank, NatWest, RBS, Ulster Bank and Yorkshire Bank customers can now register for Paym, the mobile payment service run by the Payments Council.

They say…

Maurice Cleaves, Interim Chief Executive of the Payments Council, said: “Paying back a friend using their mobile number is as easy as sending a text, so it’s no surprise that 1.6 million people have signed up for Paym since it launched in April. More banks joining today is great news for customers and we look forward to the service continuing to grow through 2015 and beyond.”

Good news?

The Paym system needs critical mass to be a genuinely useful tool for payments, because both parties need to have registered for payments to be transferred. Therefore the extension of the scheme is welcome. The Payments Council is also running a competition in the run-up to Christmas, giving away £250 a week for those who sign up and share a picture online.

Any caveats?

The service does appear to be building momentum – since its launch in April this year, 1.6 million customers have registered their mobile number with their bank or building society to receive payments through Paym – and over £15m has been sent. However, it is still far from universal. Not many of the ‘Challenger’ banks – Handelsbank, for example – are among the participants yet. The roll-out is continuing, however, with Ipagoo, Metro Bank, Nationwide Building Society and Tesco Bank all planning to join from next year onwards.

Links
http://www.paymentscouncil.org.uk/
http://www.paym.co.uk/