Italy’s SIA, a payment processing and financial network services provider, has released a new “person-to-person” or P2P payments service that allows users to send and receive funds from phone contacts over their smartphones.

Called “Jiffy”, SIA’s new phone app allows the transfer of funds in real time. The service is being rolled out in Europe involving all banks operating in the Single Euro Payments Area, potentially reaching over 400 million European account holders, SIA said in a statement.
The app is based on the SEPA Credit Transfer, and is designed to work on Android, Apple iOS and Windows Phones. With the app, consumers can pay each other using their mobile phones. Users will need to be a customer of one of the banks signed up to the service. Major Italian banks have already subscribed to the service, representing about 60% of the Italian current account market.

The app works by linking the IBAN code of the account to the phone number. Users download the Jiffy app and enter the system access credentials and the service. After opening the personal contacts list on the smartphone, the user selects the beneficiary, enters the amount, perhaps also a text message, and clicks to complete the ‘send’ operation. Users already enabled for the service are marked with a specific icon. The app works like Whatsapp or similar messaging apps, SIA said.