Pingit, Barclays’ smartphone mobile banking app, has been extended to Africa, with the first implementation launched in Kenya.

Pingit, Barclays’ smartphone mobile banking app, has been extended to Africa, with the first implementation launched in Kenya. An announcement posted on the institution’s global website says the application will be launched in additional Africa markets, including Zimbabwe, in the next couple of months.

It is an app much like the CABS textacash service in terms of it being a mobile money service run by a bank, it allows Barclays U.K users to transfer money to another Barclays customer using only their mobile number. Unlike textacash however (which works on any mobile phone), the Barclays Pingit app works on smartphones only, specifically Android 2.2+, iOS 4.2+, Blackberry OS 5.0+. It has had success in the United Kingdom, and it will be making its African debut in Kenya.

Barclays is to allow money to be sent from mobile phones in the UK to those in Kenya free of charge, as part of the international rollout of its Pingit app.