Banking in the Czech Republic is stepping into a new era. As of Tuesday, the first six banks have initiated a new system that allows individuals to send money to a mobile number, eliminating the need to know the recipient’s bank account number. More banks are expected to join this initiative next year.
“This service can only be used by clients of participating banks,” said Petr Hládek from the Czech Banking Association. The upper limit for sending money is 5,000 korunas, and the lower limit is one koruna, a measure put in place for security reasons.
Interestingly, this covers the majority of payments made in the Czech Republic. According to the Banking Association, 68 percent of all sent amounts are within this range. For some banks, the percentage is even higher. “The share of payments up to five thousand korunas is over 82 percent for our clients in the first half of this year,” said Jiří Suchý from Airbank.
To utilize this service, people must register their mobile number with the Czech National Bank via phone or online banking. This is necessary if they want to receive money this way. However, sending money is possible for other clients of the mentioned banks.
In the last few years, banks have noted a steep increase in customers using mobile banking, with the average number growing by 110% from the beginning of 2019 to mid this year. This innovative service not only simplifies payments for customers but also reduces errors when entering recipient details.