Visa Europe has added two new features to the P2P payments service it is pushing to banks.

A multi-currency feature allows payments to be sent from a user’s mobile phone to any Visa cardholder in Europe, in any European currency. The feature will be available by the end of 2013.

A second feature makes it possible for consumers to receive funds sent via the service in a matter of minutes, although transactions may still take up to half an hour, said Visa. This feature launched in the UK this week with other countries to follow later in the year.

Visa said its personal payments service has been adopted by 17 issuing banks around Europe, a figure which includes both “live and committed” customers. The first bank in the UK to launch it was RBS/NatWest which started offering the P2P service via its mobile app in March.

The new features solve a problem that millions of consumers face every day, which is “giving money to another individual easily and securely,” said Sandra Alzetta, SVP Visa Europe (pictured).

Senders need to register for the service and then know either the mobile number or Visa card number of the person they are sending a payment to. Payments are then set up via a smartphone app offered by the sender’s bank.

To collect money, consumers don’t need to be signed up for the service, they just need a Visa card, access to the internet and to submit a few basic details.