Mobile payments

Abstract

The Payments Council announced plans for delivery of mobile payments through a collaborative project in July 2011, and in 2012, commissioned the central database to provide the necessary infrastructure linking mobile phone numbers and account details. Registered customers will be able to pay someone with only the recipient’s phone number, using either Faster Payments or the LINK payment scheme. Customers’ account details will be kept safe, while banks will be able to make account-to-account payments. Research has shown that likely early adopters of the service will be higher-income busy young professionals, followed by students, larger families and small businesses, who will be able to make payments from multiple accounts and from different PSPs, and receive money into one account with one PSP. The service will be safe and secure. Seven financial institutions, representing 90 per cent of UK current accounts, have committed to offering the service from late spring 2014. The collaborative Payments Council project is the first service with the potential to link up every bank account in the country with a mobile number.