Barclays Bank will launch a person-to-person payments service that enables people to send and receive money using mobile phone numbers from the UK to Kenya. Launched in the UK earlier this year, Pingit,  allows users to download a free, password-protected app for their smartphone and register. The service currently allows registered people to send money to anyone over the age of 16 with a UK mobile number and a UK bank.

According to FineExtra news, the products success has driven Barclays to roll out the service internationally, across thirteen African countries by the end of this year with expansion into Europe in early 2013. In the UK alone, Pingit was downloaded more than a million times in its first six months.

The first stage, launching this week, will enable payments from the UK to Kenya, with British users able to send up to £750 per day to the 120,000 Barclays Hello Money customers in Kenya, who can receive up to £5000 per day. Sources at Barclays, who sought anonymity, told Pesatalk that the product will be launched later this week.

According to reports, Barclays is targeting Pingit at the 200,000 Kenyan-born people in the UK and many more of Kenyan heritage who want to send money back to relatives. In the first half of 2012, Kenyans working abroad sent around $600 million in remittance payments into the country.

Antony Jenkins, chief executive, Barclays retail and business banking, says: "Pingit is quick, convenient, secure and free - it's revolutionised how people send and receive money in the UK, and now has the potential to transform international payments around the world."

The service will be extended to Botswana, South Africa, Zambia, Tanzania, Ghana, Nigeria, Egypt, Zimbabwe, Uganda, UAE, Seychelles and Mauritius by the end of the year.