Lydia abandons the use of telephone numbers for her transfers

A revolution for Lydia. The mobile payment company announced on Tuesday the upcoming development of its historic product, account-to-account transfers between individuals, by renouncing the use of telephone numbers, in a context of strong competition from traditional banking players.

The company has grown over the last decade by offering a simple product that allows individuals to transfer money to each other with their mobile phone: via the Lydia application, the beneficiary of the transfer is identified by their mobile number, a simpler and faster system than the account number, or Iban. But since the launch of this service in 2013, the “context has changed,” the company said in a press release on Tuesday.

“The telephone number has become personal data that must be protected,” writes the fintech, particularly because of “the explosion of scams in recent years.” Lydia is now putting forward a system for identifying the beneficiary of the transfer by QR code, and plans to abandon the use of the telephone number in the coming months.

The company also seeks to stand out from the competition and thus defend its market share. A behemoth indeed entered the arena last year: European Payments Initiative (EPI), a consortium bringing together large European banks, offers an identical product, called Wero.