Celebrating its first anniversary, UK payments provider Paym – set up by the Payments Council to handle P2P money transfers – has processed nearly £44 million since its launch in April 2014.

Paym is available through 16 banks and building societies with 2.25 million mobile numbers now registered. The service uses just a mobile number rather than full bank details to enable money transfers.

UK building society Nationwide is set to join in May.

The average Paym transaction value is £55 and Friday and Saturday are the most popular days for payments.

Paym is eager to cite itself as part of the so-called sharing economy, which covers activities such as car-sharing and house rental. “Advances in technology are making sharing easier than ever – Paym means you can pay back friends and family using just their mobile number,” said managing director Craig Tillotson, whose CV includes stints at both the UK operations of T-Mobile and Vodafone.

Previously very shy, UK users have become slightly more willing to own up to taking a loan, said the provider.

At launch, Paym revealed reluctance among consumers to identify themselves as borrowers, with only 12 per cent of respondents in a survey willing to do so. That figure has now grown to 16 per cent of respondents happy to say they use IOUs with friends and family as a means to share costs.

The most recent survey from the firm also revealed that users of mobile payment services are far more open to sharing money with others – 58 per cent are happy to, compared with 15 per cent of all adults.