Royal Bank of Canada has announced the launch of the RBC Mobex, a mobile person-to-person payments service enabling the customers to send and receive money through SMS messages. Until January 2009 this service will be piloted by bank employees and their families and if successful it will be widely distributed. 

Now any person can transfer up to $100 per day to any user of mobile phone serviced by a Canadian wireless carrier even if the recipient has no account with RBC Mobex. The sender just send SMS message to RBC Mobex with the dollar amount and the mobile number of the recipient. Money will be taken from the senders account in Mobex and sent further. The recipient will be notified via SMS. 

The company administration says that the transactions are very secure and one can track and manage his or her account by their mobile phone or via the RBC Mobex site. The transactions over $25 are verified by call and have PIN codes. According to RBC the users are not additionally charged and pay only regular bank or wireless carrier charges and fees.