Paying by text to launch spring 2014

LONDON. January 16. KAZINFORM UK mobile users will be able to send and receive money by sharing only their phone number by spring 2014, the Payments Council has said.

Account owners will be asked by their banks if they want to opt-in to a database that will allow the sending of money by text message.

The scheme is being backed by eight major financial institutions, BBC reported.

Its launch will bring the UK up to speed with technology long in use in the developing world.

Many African nations use systems such as M-Pesa, typically seen as a secure way to transfer funds quickly between individuals and businesses.

A spokesman for the Payments Council told the BBC it had taken the UK longer to catch up due to the technical challenge of building and testing a new database to power the system.

Mobiles in the UK are already being used for a variety of online banking tasks, with services such as Barclay's PingIt simplifying sending money to and from accounts.

But this new set-up will be the first to not require users to set-up a separate account with a mobile wallet service.

Account holders who do not wish to have their details in the database will be able to refuse - only customers who opt-in will be signed up.

The scheme will be administered by the Faster Payments service - which processed more than 800 million online and phone banking transactions in 2012 - and the Link network, which processed 3.1 billion cash machine withdrawals last year.

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