“Adding the ability to pay people or a small business using just a Twitter handle brings together a social and digital experience to create a new step forward for mobile payments in the UK”.

With 80% of UK Twitter users now accessing the social network through their mobile regularly, the offering gives people a new, fast and safe way to pay without having to always provide either bank details or a phone number.

Launched in 2012, Pingit has now received 3.7M downloads and over £1Bn has been sent using the app.

This new way of payment will also be available to businesses, providing an added benefit to the 57,000 companies in the UK currently signed up to Barclays Pingit service.

For further information on Barclays Pingit and to download the app visit Barclays.co.uk/pingit

For small businesses looking to source a unique QR code and Barclays Pingit acceptance mark, visit Barclays.co.uk/pingitforbusiness

ends