The European Central Bank is working on a new plan for bank transfers, allowing consumers to transfer money using their phone numbers or email addresses rather than a complicated bank account number, a senior bank official said.

In an interview with RTL Nieuws broadcast on Monday, ECB executive board member Yves Mersch said the

ECB plans new system for bank transfers

system would let a consumer link, for instance, her telephone number to her International Bank Account Number, or IBAN.

Under the system, “to send payment over your telephone from one country to another, you go onto your contact list, you take the name of a person, and you would immediately also get his IBAN”, Mersch said.

The chief obstacles to the idea are legal, not technical, he added.