Barclays and BlackBerry bringing BBM to Pingit mobile payments
Matthew Talbot, BlackBerry
Barclays and BlackBerry are bringing BBM, the mobile instant messaging service, to Pingit money transfers in the UK.
BBM users can now make mobile payments to each other using Barclays’ mobile payment app Pingit.
Matthew Talbot, SVP, BBM at BlackBerry, says to “exchange money was a logical extension” of BBM’s functions.
Once a user has added their BBM ID as a linked ID within Pingit, they can start a money transfer directly from within a BBM conversation in the same way as sending a photo or sticker to a BBM contact.
To receive a transfer, the receiver will see a money transfer notification during their BBM conversation, and will then be prompted to enter their secure password to authorise the transaction and will receive a BBM notification from the sender to confirm when the payment has been processed in the receiver’s Pingit account.
Pingit currently has over 2.9 million registered users, and more than 68,000 businesses have signed up to use the service. Individuals don’t have to be a Barclays customer to use Pingit, and more than £2 billion has been transferred via the app to date.
