Peer-to-Peer (P2P) money transfers refer to a new way of sending and receiving money without relying on traditional intermediaries like credit card companies or banks. On the other hand, mobile wallets generally are payments services performed via a mobile device. According to BI Intelligence, the volume of P2P payments in the world is over $1 trillion. Some of these payments are conducted through mobile phones. As big tech companies and start-ups continue to get involved in P2P, let us look at UK P2P money transfers or mobile wallets from 2011-2016.
P2P payments saw significant growth in 2010 in the UK. This is evidenced by several P2P money transfers companies that were launched that year. Those companies include YES-Secure, Funding Circle, Quakle, and Rate setter.
In 2011, additional P2P payments companies were launched. P2P money transfers companies that were launched in 2011 include ThinCats, Marketinvoice, YouAngel, Bank on Dave and Danesfield. In the same period, a survey carried out by Simon-Kucher & Partners showed that 92% of smartphone users in the UK were willing to use mobile payments for many forms of money transmission.
The year 2012 saw the establishment of P2P payments companies such as Platform Black, abundance, FundingKnights, and many others. In addition, the EC gave UK wireless operators Vodafone, Everything Everywhere, and O2 the green light to start Oscar, their mobile payment venture. Also, DIBS E-Commerce Survey 2012 reported that the UK had the largest number of purchases via mobile phone in Europe.
According to Statista, the number of mobile P2P payment transactions reached 26.1 million in 2013. P2P payments companies that were established in 2013 include Saving Stream, Asset capital, FOLK2FOLK, Lendinvest, Funding Secured, and many more. However, banking technology reported that mobile wallet was facing an uphill struggle. According to a study that was conducted by technology company MPayMe, only 10% of the 1,500 UK had used mobile wallet.
In 2014, Statista reported that the number of mobile P2P payment transactions was 39.6 million. P2P payments companies that were established in that period include Lending works, Invest&Fund, Funding Tree, LANDBAY, Cofounder, Crowdcube, and many more.
The volume and value of some of the UK peer-to-peer players were encouraging in 2015. For instance, Paym, a P2P payment provider, recorded a 2015 year-to-year growth of 362% in transaction volume. This was a promising indicator that showed the developing transaction of peer-to-peer payments among consumers in UK. There were many incentives for using mobile wallets. According to a survey carried out by Statista in 2015, 44% of smartphone owners said they used mobile wallets to collect loyalty, 36% to redeem vouchers, 25% to make payments up to £20, 21% to make payments up to £30, 21% use it the same way as my payment card and 17% use it as travel card.
The number of P2P money transfer users in the United Kingdom has increased in 2016. Statista estimates that a number of online P2P money transfer users will reach 8.9 million by the end of the year. P2P payments companies that have been established this year include TRUFIS, Octopus Choice, Orchard, Collateral, PEER FUNDING and Kuflink.
In conclusion, P2P money transfers or mobile wallets have become popular in the UK since 2016. UK consumers can now receive and send money in easy and quick ways that were initially unavailable to them.
