Bank customers will be able to make transfers by simply entering the mobile phone number of the person they are sending the money to, instead of the IBAN. This solution should be available by the end of the first quarter of 2024, the BdP announced. Monday.
So far this is possible, but only for banks and customers who subscribe to the MbWay system (from the SIBS company).
From next year, all banks active in Portugal must make this functionality available. Customers do not have to join this system, all they need is that their bank account is linked to a telephone number.
“In our ‘home banking’ we make a normal transfer, we do not have to enter the IBAN [número de identificação bancária]. This service will be available on any channel and on any transmission service.”said BdP director Hélder Rosalino on Monday at a press conference at the Money Museum in Lisbon.
The administrator of Banco de Portugal said that this technological solution is under development and that it will cost the BdP “hundreds of thousands of euros”. Banks cover the cost of this functionality in the monthly fee they pay for participating in the Interbank Clearing System (SICOI).
However, those responsible for the Banking Regulator and Supervisor said on Monday that banks cannot charge their customers for this service, that is, they can charge for the transfer, but not for using this specific functionality.
Asked about the criticism from the Portuguese Banking Association (APB), Hélder Rosalino denied that the BdP is “competing with payment service providers”.
“The BdP does not agree with these repairs and criticism. We do not compete with payment service providers, we develop functionalities that can improve payment services”he claimed.
A functionality will also become available towards the end of the first quarter whereby the name of the beneficiary of that transfer will be displayed after entering the IBAN.
When a customer makes a transfer, the full name of the beneficiary appears and only after this information appears does the customer complete the transfer.
Hélder Rosalino opined on Monday that both solutions “minimize the situations where money is sent to the wrong recipients.”
Asked about the possibility of creating a database of fraudulent IBAN numbers and telephone numbers, which would prevent money from being transferred to these accounts, Hélder Rosalino said that “this topic is also being analyzed”, but that it involves complex regulations and that it concerns the protection of personal data and was of the opinion that the features presented this Monday will be an important means of reducing fraud.
Source: DN
