Mobile payment debutant Dinube is offering users an alternative to credit and debit card payments, and retailers a way out of the transaction fees levied by the likes of Visa Europe and MasterCard.

The newcomer launched stealthily earlier this year and has been adopted by two retail groups in Spain, El Corte Ingles and BonPreu. Dinube is based in Barcelona.

“The solution is up and running and has been offered first to employees of the retail groups, and will then be promoted by the retailers to customers,” founder Jonathan Hayes told Mobile World Live via email.

Dinube users pay at the point of sale with their NFC-based smartphone (rather than physical cards) and the funds to pay for their purchase come direct from their bank account rather than via a debit or credit card.

The firm says it is compatible with Apple Pay and Android Pay.

The attraction for retailers is the prospect of bypassing the transaction fee charged by payment networks. For users, Dinube promises full control over their personal data. In person and online purchases are both anonymous.

In addition, users can log in to Dinube and view their receipts and loyalty card data.

Most mobile payment services ape physical payments by offering a digital version of conventional payments. Dinube offers a more radical model for how payments via a mobile phone could work.

However, Hayes is somewhat coy about Dinube’s ownership. He described it as “a privately held startup based in Barcelona, funded by accredited US investors and European family offices”.