Barclays UK launches first contactless cash service
Ashok Vaswani, Barclays UK
Barclays is launching the UK’s “first” contactless mobile cash service.
Customers can withdraw up to £100 in-branch, with a tap of their Android smartphone or contactless debit card.
Ashok Vaswani, CEO of Barclays UK, says its customers “now expect to be able to use their smartphone to make their everyday purchases” and “we want taking out cash to be just as easy”.
The service will be piloted in the north of the country before rolling out across over 180 UK-wide Barclays branches.
Barclays says whether using a smartphone or card, it “removes the risk” of magnetic card skimming and distraction fraud, as the device never needs to leave the user’s hand.
Globetrotters
Barclays across the globe has been showing off its innovative tendencies.
Six start-ups signed contracts with Barclays after using its New York accelerator programme to showcase their innovations.
Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) and Barclays joined forces to let their retail customers move money between Australia and the UK with “just a mobile number”.
Barclays and fintech start-up Wave claimed to have become the first organisations to complete a global trade transaction using distributed ledger/blockchain technology.
