British consumers are to be allowed to transfer funds via handset from next month.
A new mobile phone banking service has been launched, signalling the continuing trend towards consumers accessing their accounts remotely.
From next month, Lloyds TSB will allow customers to transfer funds from their account through their phone. The service will also be linked to text alerts, with warnings about a customer nearing their overdraft limits, for example, working in tandem with the new ability to move money between accounts.
Lloyds TSB is not the first firm to become involved in banking by mobile phone. Rivals including RBS and HSBC offer similar services to users, allowing them to check their balances and top up their phone credit via their handsets.
However, the newly-announced service is the first in the UK to offer the ability to conduct transactions by mobile phone. It is likely that other banks will follow Lloyds TSB in offering the service if it proves a hit with customers.
Catherine McGrath, director of current accounts at Lloyds TSB, said: "Technology is evolving at lightning speed and with these changes come new demands from our customers and new possibilities for products and services to meet their needs."
"Gone are the days when we used our phones only to call friends and family. Mobile phones are now part of our daily lives in a way few would have imagined just a few years ago. Just as Internet banking has taken the country by storm over the past decade, mobile banking is now set to change the way we mange our money."
Research from Lloyds TSB has revealed that 19 percent of mobile phone users currently access the internet through their handset, while one in four use it as a radio and over a third use it as a personal diary.
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