The
British bank NatWest has posted a notice on
its web site announcing the closure in July
2005 of its FastPay online person-to-person
payment service.
NatWest is no longer accepting new customers
and existing accounts will be closed on 15 July.
The FastPay service, which was launched in August
2002 using a technology developed by Magex,
allows anyone with an e-mail address or mobile
telephone number to send or receive payments.
Customers can also deposit or withdraw money
from their FastPay account using a debit card
or a bank card issued in the United Kingdom.
The decision to close down this service was
taken by the bank because of an insufficient
number of users. In October 2004 the Yahoo portal
closed its PayDirect person-to-person money
transfer service, developed in collaboration
with HSBC.
Banks are struggling to establish themselves
on the person-to-person online payment market,
which is very much dominated by PayPal, owned
by E-Bay.
