Barclays has extended the service, launched this February, to enable all of its business customers to send and receive payments via a mobile phone number.

The Barclays Pingit mobile payment system, which can be seen as a rival to PayPal, has been extended to all businesses, not just sole traders.

Thousands of small businesses are already benefiting from faster payments by using Barclays Pingit, which allows firms to easily and rapidly make and receive payments via a mobile phone number.

Barclays has extended the service, launched this February, to enable all of its business customers to send and receive payments. Business customers of other UK banks can register to receive payments only. In response to demand, limits have also been changed for business users, allowing unlimited payments to be received (previously capped at £5,000 per day).