Barclays said it will be the first UK bank to allow people to pay each other, as well as small businesses, using just their Twitter handles.

Mind you, users must first have downloaded the bank’s Pingit mobile money app running on their iOS or Android handsets. The new Twitter-payment feature on the Pingit app is available from next month (10 March).

Pingit is notable to date for users sending money to one another using only their mobile numbers, rather than their bank account details.

Banks in other countries already use Twitter but not in the same way as Barclays. While the UK bank intends it for identification, French bank Groupe BPCE used Twitter last year as a mechanism to deliver payments.

In the case of Barclays, users can link their Twitter handle to their Pingit profile under the app settings.

A payment can be sent in three clicks, it said. Firstly, a user logs in, followed by entering a Twitter handle or selecting a payee from their contact list, then completing the payment.

Each time a payment is made, the recipient will receive notification via text message. The payment can also be seen from inside the Pingit app.

To use the service, both payer and payee have to be signed up to Pingit and Twitter.

There is no transaction fee for person-to-person payments using the new feature. There is no mention about the payment situation for businesses, which suggests a fee might be involved.