Italian P2P payments app Jiffy is heading to the high street, with deployment at over 150 retail stores in Milan, Rome and Turin.
Developed by SIA and GFT, Jiffy claims over 4.2 million users and more than 120 Italian banks deploying the app, which enables subscribers to send and receive money in real time to their contact lists using just a mobile phone number.
For the physical roll out, commenced by Intesa San Paolo, payment is made by scanning a QR Code generated by the merchant at the point-of-sale. The customer can then view the details of the payment on the app and authorises the transaction by fingerprint or PIN.
SIA conducted initial pilot trials of in-store payments with local bank UBI Banca in Milan and Bergamo in June last year.
Jiffy is one a host of P2P apps aiming to create a multi-functional pan-European mobile wallet capable of initiating payments online, on the high street and from peer-to-peer via a direct connection with the customer’s payment account at one of the participating banks.
Based on Sepa credit transfers and ready for integration with the pan-European instant payments infrastructure RT1, which will be completed by EBA Clearing by November 2017, Jiffy is potentially usable by over 400 million European current account holders. SIA and GFT have already set their sights on Germany as a potential market for future expansion.
Yesterday, Payconiq, the ING-derived mobile payments app supported by a coalition of banks in Belgium and Holland, signalled its intentions to move into fresh markets with the acquisition of Luxembourg's Digicash.