A smartwatch banking app has been launched by UK software company Intelligent Environements (IE).
The Interact smartwatch app has been designed for use on the Pebble smartwatch.
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The app, compatible with any Pebble device, allows users to view their live bank balance, recent transactions and will vibrate when near the user’s overdraft limit.
Clayton Locke, Chief Technology Officer at Intelligent Environments, said: "We develop our software by first finding out what customers really want in a digital bank. Our research shows that people like to know their account balance in real time. Plus customers are increasingly curious about how wearable devices, such as smartwatches, can be used to manage everyday tasks such as banking.
"This Interact smartwatch app brings consumers closer to their money, making it more convenient to keep track of finances. All it takes is a glance of the wrist to check your balance while out and about. The Interact smartwatch app marks our first step towards developing digital banking systems for other wearable technologies, such as Google Glass."
The announcement for IE follows reports from Australian banks Westpac and its subsidiary St. George Bank that they are poised to release a smartwatch banking app of their own.
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By GlobalDataThe smartwatch market fell short of analyst expectations in October after the launch of the Galaxy Gear smartwatch was met with bad reviews.
Over 35m people in the UK have at least one digital bank account, with 81% using digital banking to get instant visibility of their finances, according to Intelligent Environments’ research.
The launch of the app corresponds with the 30th anniversary of online banking, which was introduced by Bank of Scotland in the form of Homelink.
John Sinclair, one of the first Homelink users and one of the founders of The National Museum of Computing said: "The system was massively ahead of its time.
"I organised a mortgage through the system and it even pioneered an email-style messaging system with technology called ‘viewlets’. These were essentially short messages which pre-dated the widespread use of emails by 15 years.
"It’s a shame that the system died out by 1985 probably because of the cost of using online services at that time."
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