The UK Payments Council has launched its scheme for paying people back using just their mobile phone number, but several banks are yet to join.
Paym is now available to more than 30m UK consumers – those who are customers of Bank of Scotland, Barclays, Cumberland Building Society, Danske Bank, Halifax, HSBC, Lloyds Bank, Santander and TSB.
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However, customers of RBS, Natwest, Ulster Bank, First Direct and Clydesdale and Yorkshire Banks will not come on board until later this year and customers of the Nationwide Building Society will not be able to use "Paym" fully until 2015.
Some banks and building societies, including Metro Bank, have not yet revealed their timetables for joining the scheme.
Adrian Kamellard, CEO of the Payments Council said: "Paying someone back just got easier for millions of people. Paym is another safe and easy option to pay friends and family – after all, you probably already know all your friends and family’s mobile numbers, so why not use them if you need to send them some money?"
More banks will join the scheme later in the year, making Paym available to over 40m and covering nine in ten current accounts, according to the Payments Council.
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By GlobalDataTo receive money through the service, customers have to register their phone and the current account they want linked to their Paym account.
Customers do not have to register to send money, but just enter the recipient’s number into their existing payment app before confirming the name of the recipient.
Research carried out to mark the launch of Paym found that younger consumers are the most relaxed about lending and borrowing with 37% of 18 to 24-year-olds happy to lend because they like treating people to things and 74% are happy to be able to help.
Head of strategy and innovation at Intelligent Environments Simon Cadbury said: "Paym, the Payments Council’s new system for person to person mobile payments, is going to be a hit with young people.
"According to our research, over 4m 18-30 year olds are already interested in transferring money to friends and family via a mobile number. It’s clear younger consumers continue to embrace any technology that makes managing their finances easier."
However, research carried out by Consumer Intelligence showed 47% of consumers say they will definitely not use Paym, 71% say they are concerned about security and 32% believe their money may go missing through using the service.
David Black, a banking specialist at Consumer Intelligence, said: "Consumers can take a while to warm to new banking developments.
"It’s clear that the banking industry has a job to do educate many of them that mobile payments are a safe and consumer-friendly development," he added.
Related articles:
One in four plan to use Paym – Consumer Intelligence
UK’s mobile money service Paym to launch at end of April
Paym payments to reach around one billion by end-2018: UK Payments Council
