CBA, Barclays in mobile payment integration

Commonwealth Bank and Barclays have announced a technology partnership that will enable both banks’ retail customers to move money between Australia and the UK using their mobile numbers.

The banks have connected their mobile payment platforms – CBA’s CommBank app with Barclays’ Pingit – in what they claim is a first between both countries.

In the UK, Barclays Pingit app has more than 3 million registered users, which can be used by any UK current account holder. Around 3.7 million of CBA’s customers actively use the CommBank app. The bank currently has 11.8 million retail customers.

The banks on Friday said the agreement demonstrated how large financial institutions can collaborate to deliver innovations at scale.

Paul Compton, group chief operating officer at Barclays, said technology is transforming the financial services industry and fundamentally changing what customers want and need from the bank.

“Today marks the first time our Pingit app has allowed two-way cross border payments, enabling our customers to send and receive money to and from Australia quickly, easily and securely. Our partnership with CBA demonstrates how large institutions can and should work together to provide innovative solutions that benefit both customers and the banking industry as a whole.”

The Pingit/CommBank solution will available to retail customers in the last quarter of 2016.

CBA has been quite active on the mobile payments front for over two years. In April 2014, the bank made three additions to the CommBank app including one that allows consumers to withdraw up to $200 a day using their smartphones from 3,000 of the bank’s ATMs.

CBA’s Small Business app also enables businesses to accept on-the-spot payments, create estimates and invoices, manage their cash flow and operations from a mobile device.

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