An online banking app launched by one of the UK’s largest banking providers has been expanded to include customers of other banks and building societies as well, it was recently reported.
Barclays’ Pingit app, which was designed to allow the bank’s customers to transfer as much as £300 between Barclays-branded bank accounts, was launched this past February. Exclusive to the high street bank, the app makes it easy to transfer cash simply by entering the phone number of the recipient, reducing the necessity for people to divulge their personal details, and has been so popular that it has been downloaded 400,000 times over the past two months.
Barclays’ retail and business bank account division’s chief executive, Antony Jenkins, commented on the highly successful app, calling it just the beginning of a potential revolution in the way people conduct their banking business. Mr Jenkins added that Barclays is listening to feedback from its customers in addition to registering the level of demand for additional functions for the Pingit app, and that there will be much more in store for app users over the coming months.
While the app is not currently available for the Windows Phone platform from Microsoft, the Pingit app comes in BlackBerry, Android, and iOS platform flavours.
In related news, industry experts say that more options for consumers interested in mobile and online banking have been under development in the form of a new contactless payment system called Quick Tap, from Orange. Originally available only to Barclaycard members with select Android smartphones, the app has expanded to all Android owners and been broadened to include all banking institutions, much as Pingit has.
