The four leading Luxembourg retail banks of BCEE, POST Luxembourg, BIL and BGL BNP Paribas have collaborated with Digicash Payments to launch a person-to-person payment feature entitled Digicash TRANSFER.

Digicash TRANSFER is being added as a new feature under each associated bank's Digicash App, allowing users to send up to €10,000 free-of-charge through a secure SEPA credit transfer payment channel to a designated recipient's mobile phone number.

Payments can be sent to the mobile number of any other TRANSFER user, via the existing interbank payments network, by selecting the recipient's phone number from the user's phone address book, entering the designated amount and confirming the transaction by PIN code. Once this is authorised by the sender's bank, the amount signified will be transferred through the STEP2 SEPA credit transfer infrastructure. Payments made to other banks are credited to the recipient's account according to SEPA rules, often involving a next-day payment process.

To activate the Digicash TRANSFER service current Digicash users just need to validate their phone number in the App, whilst unsubscribed recipients will receive an SMS asking them to activate the service with their bank, with the attempted payment remaining pending for 15 days.

The Digicash payment scheme was launched on the Luxembourg market in 2012, with four main retail banks in the Grand Duchy now offering their own Digicash App to clients. More than 80% of account holders with Luxembourg banks are entitled to activate the Digicash App and link to their bank accounts and phone numbers.

With the addition of the Digicash TRANSFER service, the App now allows a comprehensive range of transaction options, including in-store, web, in-App and bill payments.

Luxembourg has one of the highest high-end smartphone penetration rates in the world and the usage of digital banking tools has been the norm for years. As has been the case for Scandinavia, a service such as Digicash TRANSFER is expected to garner significant interest in the Luxembourg market, with 12% of the country's population having already downloaded the Digicash App.

The new service follows the July launch of Digicash's payment solution allowing users to pay restaurant bills on their mbile phones.

 

Photo by Digicash