Commonwealth Bank of Australia and British bank Barclays have joined forces to shake-up, streamline and simplify payments between Australia and the U.K., with no more than a mobile number.

In what the banks claim is a first between the two countries, Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) and Barclays have connected each of their payment apps, CBA’s CommBank app and Barclays’ Pingit, to provide a seamless, secure and simple process for moving money across continents.

The collaboration marks the first time Australian and U.K. consumers can, through the CommBank app and Barclays Pingit respectively, send money between the two countries with the simplicity of using only a mobile telephone number.

Borderless Fintech Innovation

The partnership, which acknowledges the ever increasing importance of financial technology at the heart of global retail banking, is an example of how both banks have utilised fintech to drive innovation for the benefit of their respective customers.

«We are delighted to offer customers a simple and secure mobile to mobile international payment option through our partnership. This demonstrates the power of two influential global organisations collaborating to deliver world-firsts in financial services innovation,» said Kelly Bayer Rosmarin, Group Executive Institutional Banking and Markets at CBA.

The PingIt/CommBank app solution will be available to retail customers in the last quarter of 2016.