Paym transfers money to a phone number, no bank details needed

Not keen on handing out your bank details when your friends owe you some money? Want to split a bill with buddies but don't know their numbers? Nine UK banks have signed up to Paym, which launches in spring and lets you send money to someone from your phone knowing only their phone number.

Paym, pronounced 'pay-em', lets you settle up for cinema tickets, split a restaurant bill or have a whip-round for a birthday present without having to know anyone's sort code and account number, or give out yours.

The first British banks and building societies to offer Paym will be Bank of Scotland, Barclays, Cumberland Building Society, Danske, Halifax, HSBC, Lloyds Bank, Santander and TSB.

They'll be joined later by Clydesdale Bank, First Direct, Isle of Man Bank, NatWest, The Royal Bank of Scotland, and Yorkshire Bank. Nationwide will join in early 2015, while Metro Bank and Ulster Bank are finalising their launch plans.

Before the service launches, you'll be able to register your mobile number and associate it with your current account.

To make a payment, you'll open your existing mobile banking or payment app. Paym will be added as an additional option to transfer money. Once you've entered the phone number of the person you want to pay, you can check the name of the recipient before confirming the payment to make sure you've got the right person.

The Payments Council, the UK body in charge of payments, says Paym payments take the same time to go through as transfers made online or through mobile payment services via Faster Payments or LINK.

People in the UK and around the world can use PayPal to send money from their phone with just a phone number or email address.