UK bank Barclays is making it easy to send money on a mobile phone. The bank announced the launch of a new mobile person-to-person (P2P) payment tool. With the application, UK users can send and receive funds to anyone with a bank account and mobile phone number in the UK. This this the first service of its kind in Europe, the bank said.

Barclays' new service, called Pingit, provides a mobile money transfer service to registered bank account holders from any bank in the UK, not just Barclays' customers. Account holders need only register their bank accounts online to receive money. The mobile number is then associated with the bank account so that senders don't need to know any bank account details to send funds.

The mobile application for the service will be available sometime in early March for iOS, Anroid and Blackberry devices. The app and the service are both free.

Initially, the ability to send money will be limited to Barclays account holders only, but Barclays promised a second release coming soon will open that functionality to all registered UK bank holders.

"Barclays Pingit could revolutionise the way people send and receive money," said Antony Jenkins Barclays' chief executive for retail and business banking. "For friends splitting the cost of dinner, repaying a borrowed £10 or people sending money to a son or daughter at university, it’s free, quick, convenient, secure, and easy to use. You can send and receive money in seconds, without having to enter account details."

Money sent through Pingit is sent using the Faster Payments service, Barclays said. Transfers are as safe as any other banking transaction, and the app itself is secured by a user-generated, five-digit PIN.

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