Barclays’ mobile money smartphone app Pingit launched in Kenya. Zim & others to follow

Tendai Marengereke Avatar

Pingit, Barclays’ smartphone mobile banking app, has been extended to Africa, with the first implementation launched in Kenya. An announcement posted on the institution’s global website says the application will be launched in additional Africa markets, including Zimbabwe, in the next couple of months.

It is an app much like the CABS textacash service in terms of it being a mobile money service run by a bank, it allows Barclays U.K users to transfer money to another Barclays customer using only their mobile number. Unlike textacash however (which works on any mobile phone), the Barclays Pingit app works on smartphones only, specifically Android 2.2+, iOS 4.2+, Blackberry OS 5.0+. It has had success in the United Kingdom, and it will be making its African debut in Kenya.

Barclays is to allow money to be sent from mobile phones in the UK to those in Kenya free of charge, as part of the international rollout of its Pingit app. Barclays will charge no commission for international money transfers; customers will therefore only incur the wholesale costs of foreign currency exchange. People in the U.K can send up to £750 a day abroad using Pingit, and people abroad can receive up to £5,000 a day.

The app is set to be rolled out across 13 African countries including Zimbabwe, by the end of the year. Provided it eventually comes to Zimbabwe it can be a major boon for Zimbabweans in the U.K who can then send money to their relatives easily, securely and, more importantly, free of charge.

Currently the available international remittance services to Zimbabwe such as Bank Electronic transfers, Mukuru.com, Western Union and MoneyGram, all charge the sender and in other cases even the receiver a fee for the transaction. When Pingit comes to Zimbabwe, these competitors will find it hard to compete with the fee free service.

image source: Barclays

8 comments

  1. Marek

    Bye bye to extortionate Western Union percentage based charges…

  2. Prosper Chikomo

    Ha ha! Very funny! Virtually every western country believes because Mpesa – mobile money transfer – succeeded in Kenya, therefore technology – especially mobile technology – of any kind will succeed in Kenya than anywhere else. And generally, Westerners think they know it all, know what Africa needs and have all the solutions to African problems and needs.

    If they asked me I would have told them to launch Pingit in South Africa first, and/or make it available for Nokia. “iOS, Android and Blackberry” is a Western “combination”. The vast majority of Africans, even in Kenya, including Barclays customers, have Nokias.

    But anyway, if the money you will save in charges in the long-term will exceed the cost of investing in a iOS/Android/Blackberry phone, you might as well get it.

  3. Welington Maposa

    If these services would fully integrate with other day-to-day services such as retail, bus services, online shopping and utility payments, they would be that much more useful.

  4. vaMukanya

    What’s the limit if someone is sending the money from the UK to an overseas destination. Is it £5K?

    1. Tendai Marengereke

      someone in the U.K can send max 750pounds a day.

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