Santander unveils 'cash kitty' app

The UK arm of Santander has launched a virtual 'cash kitty' app that lets up to 100 people create and manage collective pots of money.

Developed with Kalixa Payments and Monitise, the iOS and Android KiTTi app is available to anyone aged 18 or over with a debit card in the UK.

Once a user downloads the app and registers as a KiTTi "owner" they are sent a prepaid contactless MasterCard and can begin inviting friends to join via the app, which shoots off text messages.

Members enter their debit card details and begin paying into the KiTTi, which can be given a name, target value and payment milestones. A 35p charge is applied each time money is put into the pot.

Sam Nixon, head of KiTTi, Santander, says: "The idea behind Santander’s KiTTi app, which is completely unique in the UK, is to make it much easier for groups of people to pay for virtually anything, and with just one single KiTTi prepaid card.

"It’s really that simple. It’s easy to set up, invite friends to join, pay money in and take money out. Perfect for the WhatsApp generation."

Related Companies

Banco Santander Monitise Kalixa

Channels

Retail banking Payments

Keywords

Mobile & online banking Personal finance

Comments: (7)

A Finextra member 22 July, 2015, 19:12

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Unique in UK, unique world-wide (in this form) as well? Interesting development!

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A Finextra member 23 July, 2015, 05:02

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What could possibly go wrong?

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A Finextra member 23 July, 2015, 05:08

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Managing goals and expectations with two people can be difficult, across 10 or 20 I predict a significant number of participants will claim their expectations for the spend were not met. Controlling spend to assure the purpose is met is no small challenge for the coordinating entity. Dreamfund.com implements a neutral party to monitor the spend, but I'm not sure if even that covers all the potential problems.

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Michael Joyce - Shorebank International - Dhaka 23 July, 2015, 06:40

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This is a great idea for social events- be they weekends away, or a night on the town. I remember from many years ago, the norm with a group of lads on a night out was to have a kitty - everyone would put in the same amount of money at the start of the night, then expenses (mostly drinks, but also taxis, food, etc) would get taken out of it. This was much easier than expecting people to buy rounds - someone always skived out, someone always ended up buying more expensive drinks. The kitty is very democratic!

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Dave Sanderson - YBS Group - Bradford/Leeds - UK 23 July, 2015, 08:20

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Not ignoring any of the potential issues with a kitty (which would be the same with cash) I think this is a great idea.

My fiance and her 10 other friends put money together to buy birthday presents for each other. Each time one friend is nominiated to buy the gifts and the others pay money directly to their bank account. This could be an interesting way of doing it going forward.

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Alan Greenwood - Stepping Through - London 23 July, 2015, 08:59

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Interesting idea, but what's more interesting is that it is yet another example of the silent rise of the pre-paid card. It is spawning a tide of small but novel innovations.

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James Bell - IBM UK LTD - London 23 July, 2015, 09:20

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I like this idea but 35p a deposit seems far too high when someone could actually just do this with their current account (afterall you are trusting the main person with the card so why not just put it in their bank account for free).

I like the idea but I think it could maybe be implemented better with virtual accounts off a current account