British banking group Barclays is merging two of its payment apps – BPay and Pingit – in a bid to attract more customers to its mobile payment solution.
Pingit has approximately 3.6 million users whereas bPay, launched in 2014, has users “in the high tens of thousands,” according to Barclays.
Combining the two is an attempt to be become more competitive in the payments markets – with rival companies such as Apple Pay developing their own successful mobile solutions.
The individual products require retail customers to download and maintain their accounts via two separate apps. Barclays hope that moving two together into one platform will make it accessible for users and improve UX.
Pingit supports peer-to-peer (P2P) transactions and international money transfers and BPay provides consumers the ability to top up prepaid credit onto wearable accessories for making contactless payments.
Barclays are also incorporating new features Pingit to enhance the wearable experience.
Consumers will be able to organise their account into “jars” to seperate money for specific uses. In the summer, Pingit will also embrace fintech developments as customers will have the ability to link a debit card to their account, providing users another way to pay.
Other features set to be included such as the capability to send payments fee free to friends and family in over 40 countries with a mobile number and ‘pay while you chat’ – Pingit’s keyboards will allow users to make payments directly from their messaging app.
All current bPay users, including those with partner products featuring an embedded bPay chip, will be contacted and provided instructions for a free upgrade to Pingit wearables.
