The UK’s Payments Council is building a database that will enable users to send and receive payments by linking their mobile phone numbers to their bank account details. The council will make the new system available to UK banks and building societies before the end of 2012 as a platform on which they can build their own services. Vendor VocaLink has been appointed to build the database.  Using this platform, mobile subscribers will send or receive payments without needing to share their account details. Instead they will use their mobile numbers to enable payments. UK bank Barclays last week launched a service called Pingit based on the same approach.

The council says its service will be governed by common minimum standards requiring a passcode or a similar security feature for users to authorise a payment. The service will also enable a bank to remotely disable an account if a mobile phone is lost or stolen. The Payments Council is responsible for collaborating with UK financial institutions and leads development of co-operative payment services in the country. Its 31 members include the UK’s leading banks.