Online auction house eBay has introduced its recently-acquired person-to-person payment facility PayPal to UK users.
In the first phase of integration, current PayPal users will be able to send and receive payments in euros and pounds sterling, in addition to US dollars.
The auction house says it will adopt a phased introduction of PayPal across its global sites. EBay's alternative BillPoint service will remain available until the end of the year, at which time existing users will be transferred to PayPal.
EBay completed the $1.5 billion acquisition of PayPal at the beginning of October. The introduction of the e-mail-based funds transfer service to UK users is earlier than anticipated, and will pose a challenge to nascent bank-backed schemes, such as NatWest's FastPay service. Visa is also planning to launch an equivalent service in Europe by the end of the year.