Although the arrival of Ireland\u2019s pillar banks into the modern world of money transfers is obviously a good thing, it\u2019s impossible not to wonder what took them so long and if they have left it too late to capture the attention \u2013 and the cash \u2013 of a critical mass of Irish consumers?<\/p>\n
Earlier this week, we talked to half a dozen colleagues who are infuriatingly younger than us and asked what they made of the arrival of Zippay<\/a> into our world. <\/p>\n Their faces were initially blank, and when it was explained it was an instant mobile payments system run by AIB, Bank of Ireland and PTSB, those faces became creased with confusion.<\/p>\n They all wondered why they would need something new when they have been transferring money and splitting bills and buying tat at random flea markets (probably) using Revolut<\/a> for more than a decade. <\/p>\n Not one of this small ad-hoc focus group said they would abandon their Revolut accounts<\/a> in favour of Zippay.<\/p>\n While such loyalty is admirable it is perhaps worth pointing out that not one of them said they would be happy to use Revolut as their sole \u2013 or even main \u2013 bank account either, so it\u2019s swings and roundabouts for the fintech. <\/p>\n Ireland\u2019s pillar banks will be betting that when it comes to using Zippay, these young folk are outliers. They will be fervently hoping their new notion will soon be the verb of choice we all use when we want to send cash to someone without fuss. <\/p>\n And the banks might well be on the money because although it most certainly has not been an early arriver, Zippay comes with advantages that even something as big as Revolut could only dream of: omnipresence.<\/p>\n But before we get to that we thought we might answer questions you might have. <\/p>\n First thing\u2019s first. How am I supposed to pronounce this new word?<\/p>\n We\u2019re going with Zip (tiny pause) Pay rather than rhyming it with enchant\u00e9 or sounding like someone from Dublin 4 or parts of England saying Zippy. We could, however, be wrong and will let the hive mind ultimately decide how the word is said aloud. However you say it, it should not be confused with Yippay, which was the previous incarnation of the pillar banks\u2019 proposed instant payment system. It was abandoned in 2020, presumably because of its terrible name. <\/p>\n And what does Zippay do?<\/p>\n It allows you to send, request and split payments directly by using a mobile phone number. There will no longer be any need for an Iban \u2013 although they will continue to exist and be useful in some circumstances \u2013 and you will not have to set someone up as a new payee before you can transfer cash to them. All you will need is their mobile number, and if they have Zippay too, then the money will transfer to them immediately. <\/p>\n And if they don\u2019t have Zippay?<\/p>\n Well then you won\u2019t be able to transfer the money to them. But just like that U2 album that appeared by magic on people\u2019s iPhones all those years ago, the new payment system is being rolled out automatically to all customers of the three pillar banks who have mobile banking on their phone. That means that within a matter of days about five million people will have Zippay on their phone \u2013 and that is the key advantage the new system will have over upstarts such as Revolut or N26. By the end of March you will be able to assume that everyone you are dealing with has Zippay. <\/p>\n And it is just people who have accounts with Bank of Ireland, AIB and PTSB, right?<\/p>\n According to the Banking and Payments Federation of Ireland \u2013 the umbrella group co-ordinating the implementation of the new payment system \u2013 the system will be widened beyond the three main banks in the future to cover any financial institution that offers their customers Iban numbers. <\/p>\n So, I will be able to Zippay money to a Revolut account and Revolut money to a Zippay account?<\/p>\n You will certainly be able to do the former but maybe not the latter, and although that is a little confusing, we will get over it. <\/p>\n What if I don\u2019t want it?<\/p>\n There is a facility for opting out but the default option will be to have it. <\/p>\n How do I get started?<\/p>\n Since Zippay will automatically appear on your banking app, you just need to go to that section of the app and then you will be guided through the steps to follow to send money.<\/p>\n What if I have just checked and it is not there?<\/p>\n We did the same and it wasn\u2019t there either. That\u2019s because it\u2019s being rolled out gradually but all users are likely to have it on their phones in a matter of days. <\/p>\n But if money can be transferred immediately to another person\u2019s account from my phone, how can that be safe? What happens if I lose my phone?<\/p>\n As long as you are the only one who can access your banking app then it is as secure as your current banking set-up and any such service anywhere in the world. <\/p>\n Are there any limits on how much I can transfer?<\/p>\n Yes, you will only be able to transfer a total of \u20ac1,000 each day using Zippay. And users will be able to request up to \u20ac500 in a single payment each day.<\/p>\n What happens if I send the money to the wrong person by mistake?<\/p>\n That is obviously going to be a concern \u2013 it won\u2019t be hard to mistype a digit, after all. But the banks have implemented a couple of safeguards to stop you sending money to random numbers in error. So, if you want to send 50 quid to your daughter Mary Jane Pope and the mobile phone number you have entered is correct, you will see something along the lines of \u201cYou are sending money to M**y Ja** P**e 0850000000. Do you wish to proceed?\u201d. If you don\u2019t see the right name alongside the number, then that should be a clue the number is wrong and you can abort the transaction. <\/p>\n And if something goes wrong and I do end up sending money to the wrong person or fear my app has been compromised, will I be able to speak to a human being?<\/p>\n This might be one of the key advantages Zippay has over other systems. Unlike many other operators out there \u2013 and not just those in the fintech space \u2013 the pillar banks still have actual people at the end of phone lines and, although it can sometimes take a while for them to pick up, you can be pretty sure they will eventually. <\/p>\n And how long will it be before I can start using Zippay as a verb?<\/p>\n It seems inevitable it will catch on so you may as well start doing it now.<\/p>\n You can contact us at OnTheMoney@irishtimes.com<\/a> with personal finance questions you would like to see us address. If you missed last week\u2019s newsletter by Joanne Hunt about online recruitment scams, you can read it here<\/a> . <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Although the arrival of Ireland\u2019s pillar banks into the modern world of money transfers is obviously a good…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":813594,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3159],"tags":[10782,112091,547,18785,234664,3798,53,16,15],"class_list":["post-823865","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mobile","tag-aib","tag-bank-of-ireland","tag-mobile","tag-on-the-money","tag-ptsb","tag-revolut","tag-technology","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116224041025467255","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/823865","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=823865"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/823865\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/813594"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=823865"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=823865"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=823865"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}