Barclays Helps Brits Talk About Money With Emojis

While talking about money is awkward in most parts of the world, talking about money in the U.K. is particularly uncomfortable, if recent data can be believed.

Apparently about a third of U.K. citizens would rather remain unpaid on a debt than actually have to ask a friend or family member to pay them back. Faced with this situation, the people of the U.K. had a choice – or at least a third of them did. Either grow up and learn to have an adult conversation about money, or resign themselves to doing a lot of financial gifting over the course of a lifetime.

But thanks to Barclay’s bank, there is now an option that neither requires greater maturity nor poverty. There are now emojis.

Instead of having to tell your sister she owes you money – consumers can now text images that mean “you owe me money;” if you don’t want to ask your parents for a loan, it is now possible to text an image that means “can I borrow some money?”

The financial request emojis are set to hit the market on “World Emoji Day” on July 17th – they are the brainchild of linguistics professor Vyv Evans at Bangor University in Wales.

“Emojis are fast becoming one of the most common ways we communicate,” he says.” In fact, many find it easier to express their emotions through emojis and use emoticons to help them navigate trickier conversations. Talking about money is one of those taboo subjects which everybody finds a little difficult. The Barclays Mon-Emoji chains make those discussions a little less awkward.”

We at PYMNTS look forward to the day that entire underwriting decisions can be made by exchanging a series of emojis.