Barclays Pingit and Barclays Mobile Banking

Pingit’s innovative approach linked monetary transfers to phone numbers rather than specific apps, making it inclusive for users across different phone platforms. Operating on the Faster Payments Service, the system facilitated instantaneous and free transactions, even extending its compatibility to non-Barclays customers. Pingit also integrated with the Paym mobile payment system, fostering seamless transactions across various UK banks.

The evolution of Pingit didn’t stop there. In 2015, Barclays partnered with Zapp, enhancing Pingit’s capabilities for in-store and online transactions. The collaboration paved the way for further advancements, including the merger of Barclays’ BPay wearable contactless payments product with the Pingit money transfer app in 2019. This move was followed by the launch of an online store offering Pingit wearable payments devices, such as watches and key fobs.

The culmination of these technological achievements and collaborations underscored Barclays’ commitment to driving innovation in the mobile payments landscape. However, in a bittersweet turn, the bank announced on February 19, 2021, that Pingit would be closing its doors later that year, with operations officially concluding on June 30, 2021. This closure marked the end of an era for a pioneering mobile payments solution that had its roots in the collaborative efforts of engineers dating back to 2011.

SDLC

Some of our current engineers worked on the project as early as 2011 alongside Barclays’ in-house staff and a number of high profile consultancies such as Accenture. Our engineers were brought on board to help deliver both apps and utilised the Scrum Agile framework to help deliver the software in an iterative manner. 

Some members of the team worked on the backend API services whilst most were mobile app focused, working harmoniously alongside each other as well as QA to deliver both apps.