Paym usage doubles every six months

The number of payments made through mobile transaction service Paym is doubling every six months, according to research.

Paym has found that between July and December 2015, payments made through the service increased by 89% from the previous six-month period.

Paym chairman Craig Tillotson said: “More Paym payments were made in the last six months than the whole previous year, so it seems plenty of people have cottoned on to using their contacts for more than calls and texts.”

The Paym service, which was launched by the Payments Council, allows users to send and receive payments directly to a current account using only the mobile number of the account holder.

In the first six months after its launch in July 2014, about £23m was moved via the service, which rose to £44m in the six months between January and July 2015, rising again in the following six months, between July and December 2015, when £76m was moved through Paym.

There were 1.46 million transactions during the six months from July to December 2015.

In its first 100 days, the mobile transaction service was responsible for over £6.5m worth of transactions.

However, the average amount of money per transaction has dipped slightly over the past three months, slipping from an average of £50 per transaction to £49.48, which the firm believes signals a change in consumer behaviour towards using digital means to settle even small financial debts.

“Paym makes settling up with friends, family and even small businesses easy,” said Tillotson. “Paym means all you need is a mobile number to securely send payments straight to another bank account whenever and where you want, using your own bank’s app.”

Some 17 banks and building societies have signed up to offer Paym as a method of payment, and some have allowed it to be used to manage finance for small businesses as well as personal banking customers.

The firm estimates that the number of Paym transactions will reach a billion over the next two years.

The number of payment methods available is increasing, with Apple Pay and Android Pay also entering the market recently. Many observers believe new payment providers will need to provide an impeccably fast and simple service to stay afloat.