UK-based retail bank Metro Bank has enhanced its mobile app with a new service that enables its personal and business customers to make international payments to more than 38 countries.
Image: A branch of Metro Bank in Borehamwood, UK. Photo: courtesy of Philafrenzy/Wikimedia Commons.
The new service introduced by Metro Bank gives customers the scope to make same day SWIFT and next day Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) payments in euros, US dollars and GBP sterling to a select list of countries.
For creating a new payee, customers have the choice to enter the payee’s IBAN to generate the SWIFT BIC Code automatically or just input their account number.
The British retail bank said that the new service, which sits alongside the domestic payments functionality of its mobile app, is a straightforward four-step process. The international payments feature gives customers the choice whether the transaction charges will be covered by them or the payee.
Metro Bank chief commercial officer Paul Riseborough said: “We’re always looking for new ways to make our customers’ lives easier. Whether you want to send money to your loved ones back home or pay an overseas supplier, you can now do it with a simple tap of the app.”
Last month, the retail bank launched an in-app money management tool for its personal mobile customers. The tool called Insights, which is powered by artificial intelligence (AI), has been designed to help personal mobile customers in handling their money more effectively.
Metro Bank packed the money management tool with more than 20 plus individual insights and has plans to include more in the coming few months.
Insights, which generates customized tips and alerts for users, was developed by the retail bank alongside customer interactions technology provider Personetics.
The opt-in money management tool has been designed to apply predictive analytics to the spending patterns of users and the resulting data is translated subsequently into customized prompts.
Metro Bank, which began operations in 2010, claims to be the first high street bank to open in the UK in more than 100 years.
The retail bank as per its Q3 2018 financial results released in October had crossed 1.5 million customer accounts. Its deposits, on the other hand, have grown to £14.8bn as of 30 September 2018.