A new service will be provided in Lithuania that will ensure simpler and faster payments between banks - money will be transferred by knowing only the recipient's phone number or e-mail. Customers will be able to try the innovation next year, the Bank of Lithuania reported.
According to LB, the service is intended to be provided by three banks, through which half of all payments in Lithuania are made.
"The service created by Lietuvos bankas specialists will allow residents to transfer money between different banks with one click of a phone button in a few seconds, without worrying about the recipient's account number or which bank's customer he is. We are ready to provide this service to all participants of the payment services market who wish to do so," LB board member Marius Jurgilas said in a statement.
The system allows you to associate your bank account number (IBAN) with a phone number or email address and make payment orders between different banks, simply by selecting the recipient from your contact list on your mobile phone.
The central bank has already signed contracts with SEB, Šiaulių banka and Luminor for this service. Some banks plan to provide the new service until the middle of 2019, others - in the second half of next year.
"SwedbankBNS informed on Friday that it will also provide this service.
Swedbank is also working hard to bring this innovation to its customers. We are also considering other alternatives to offer this functionality to the market," Swedbank commented.
SEB bank claims that its customers will be able to use this opportunity in the first half of 2019.
"The development of mobile payments should be particularly strengthened after the majority of banks and other payment service providers join the account and phone number linking system being implemented in the country", - Vaidas Žagūnis, a member of the bank's board, director of the Department of Retail Banking Services, says in SEB's report.
The president of the Lithuanian Banks Association (LBA) Mantas Zalatorius says that the country's banks are constantly implementing advanced technological solutions.
"Almost a year ahead of schedule, banks SEB and Swedbank launched instant payments a few months ago. Now even half of the participants in the payment market immediately connect to the phone number linking service. We have no doubt that, if this innovation proves successful, other financial institutions will implement this functionality as well, and the specific terms depend on their business plans", said M. Zalatorius in the LBA announcement.
According to the Central Bank, the service of linking an account to a phone number will allow for a faster expansion of the payment system in the country and accelerate the development of instant mobile payments, an alternative to conventional payments and settlements in cash. Mobile payments are currently particularly common in the Scandinavian countries: Sweden, Denmark, Norway.
