Called igapoo, the service allows individuals and companies to open current accounts in different countries, and make cross border transactions in different currencies, while remaining with the same bank. Aimed at "people with a European lifestyle", the service will also shorten the period that people are "unbanked" when moving to a new country, said Norman Comfort, UK marketing manager for Orwell Group, the London-based financial services group behind the igapoo service.
While many banks operate in several companies, they are run as separate legal entities, making cross-border banking difficult. Igapoo will work as a single entity, allowing users to open accounts in more than one country.
Personal igapoo current accounts are now available in the UK, Spain, France and Italy, with business accounts to follow next month, and further European countries over the next two years. Customers from most European countries will be able to open these accounts – they do not need to live in the countries concerned. Once a client is "onboarded", it is straightforward to open further accounts in other countries, said Comfort.
"In 2015, it seems a pretty realistic expectation to have banking that operates across Europe," Comfort said. "We've had a lot of interest in this service, for that reason."
Igapoo said that it should only take around 20 minutes to open an igapoo account. As with a standard current account, users can set up direct debits, standing orders and other payments from each account, although no credit facility is available.
Money can be stored in individual current accounts or 'pooled' across accounts. It can also be saved in 'wallets' - essentially savings accounts with no interest payable, which can have their own debit cards attached.
Igapoo is not a member of any financial guarantee scheme. "We don't lend or invest the money – it's kept in a separate escrow account and is fully secure," Comfort said.
The name igapoo was inspired by the Latin word pagare, to pay.