Dutch bank ING has launched Way2Pay, an e-mail and SMS-based person-to-person payment system for consumer money transfers.
Over two years in development, Way2Pay had its genesis in ING's November 2000 investment in US P2P pioneer PayPal. The finished product was developed in conjunction with UK-based P2P outfit PayHound.
Similar in operation to NatWest's FastPay and the forthcoming Visa Direct service, Way2Pay uses e-mail and mobile phone text messaging for the instruction and initiation of account transfers. Payments are capped at EUR500 and a 2.9% commission is charged on intensive users of the service. Way2Pay is free for casual users receiving less than EUR500 per month in incoming payments.
Initially available in Holland, ING intends to expand the service to cater for cross-border payments around Europe.