Paym mobile payment: how does it work and is it safe?

New system allows bank customers to send and receive payments using just a mobile phone number

mobile phone
(Image credit: Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

A NEW system that allows bank customers to send and receive payments using only a mobile phone number has launched today. Paym – pronounced “Pay Em” – is run by the Payments Council, an industry body that expects one billion such transactions to be made by 2018. According to The Guardian, more than 360,000 people have already registered for the service. But why do we need it and is it safe to use?

What is Paym?The technology allows people to pay or receive money using a mobile phone number, but without giving out their account number and sort code.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
Explore More