The days of the best man chasing the groom’s mates to get their contribution to a weekend of revelry, a tatty envelope going round the office collecting cash for a colleague’s birthday gift, or a jam jar stuffed with cash in a shared house could well be a thing of the past with the launch of KiTTi, a brand new money management app from Santander.

This is the first app in the UK that brings the good old cash kitty up to date, and allows up to 100 friends to contribute and keep an eye on their money all at the tap of a button.

Customers of any UK bank can download the app, quickly and easily set up a KiTTi, invite their friends and get started.

How it works

KiTTi is accessed exclusively through a smartphone app, available on both iOS and Android and users do not need to be an existing Santander customer. The service is available to anyone over 18 with a UK debit card and works in the following way:

• Download the app from either the Apple or Android app stores
• One person registers as an owner to set up a KiTTi and is sent a KiTTi prepaid contactless MasterCard
• Each KiTTi can be given a name, target value and payment milestone(s)
• The owner invites friends to join the KiTTi via the app (text message is sent to their smartphone)
• The owner and friends pay into KiTTi by entering their debit card details, which they need to do only once, through the app’s secure payment process
• A small fee of 35p is applied whenever a payment is made into the KiTTi
• Using the KiTTi prepaid card, money can be taken out or used to pay for anything the group wants – in the UK and overseas
• A single KiTTi has a maximum balance of £4,000

A Santander spokesman said“We’ve all been through the hassle at the end of a fantastic meal with friends when it comes to splitting the bill. You get a pile of notes, coins and cards in the middle of the table and then have to divvy up the change. And you know at least one of your friends is secretly annoyed because they feel they’ve paid more than they should.