Facebook to Let Users Send Friends Money Through Messenger App

(Bloomberg) — Facebook Inc. is giving users the ability to send money to friends through its Messenger application, as the social network adds features to the separate chat app.

The new tool will be rolled out in the coming months in the U.S. for mobile users on Google Inc.’s Android and Apple Inc. software and on desktop computers, Facebook said today on its website. Users can send or receive money by adding a debit card number to their accounts, then can create a personal ID number and add further authentication to enhance security.

The Menlo Park, California-based company said it already processes more than a million secure transactions every day, including payments for game players and advertisers. Facebook’s Messenger joins a number of apps that let people send each other cash, including Venmo and PayPal, both owned by EBay Inc., and startup Snapchat Inc. Facebook has talked about payments as an opportunity, given that people use their accounts on the social network to establish identity on the Internet.

To contact the reporter on this story: Sarah Frier in San Francisco at sfrier1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Jillian Ward at jward56@bloomberg.net Cecile Daurat

Source : http://www.bloomberg.com

Facebook to Let Users Send Friends Money Through Messenger App