Rejoice! NatWest finally ditches card reader for business customers on mobile

The bank becomes the "UK's first" to fully-unlock mobile payments for businesses.

Card readers have gradually been disappearing from banking life, and NatWest today made a leap by cutting their requirement for businesses using its mobile app.

Finally payments of any size and to anyone can be setup and approved via NatWest’s Bankline Mobile app, using iPhone biometrics like Face ID or Touch ID.

For context other banks cap their business customers from making large transactions by mobile app, require a separate card reader, or place limitations like stopping you from creating new payees.

“We know that ease, speed and security are important to our customers,” said NatWest’s chief operating officer of Commercial and Private Banking, James Holian.

“We feel this is another important innovation that will make it easier for our customers to get on with doing what they do best: running their business.”

While NatWest labelled today’s news as a “UK banking first”, as even digital banks like Starling or Tide have upper limits for their business customers of £25,000 and £50,000 respectively.

NatWest’s ditching of its card reader for mobile payments also only covers iPhone users for now, with Android support for touch and face biometrics due “in the second half of the year”.

Still, credit where credit’s due, today the UK came another step closer to fully eliminating the pain and hassle of card readers from our financial lives.

UPDATE 2019-04-17 - Updated to clarify that Starling Bank and Tide do have limits on their mobile transactions.