Facebook To Cash In With E-money?

April 16, 2014 – The Financial Times reports that Facebook is making another play in electronic payments. The article says that the social networking site is, “only weeks away from obtaining regulatory approval in Ireland for a service that would allow its users to store money on Facebook and use it to pay and exchange money with others”. The Central Bank of Ireland authorization would allow Facebook to issue units of stored monetary value that represent a claim against the company.

Those familiar with Facebook’s plan report that there is particular interest in serving the under-banked in emerging markets and migrant communities who already use Facebook to stay in touch.

Previous Facebook attempts at electronic transactions, including Facebook Deals, Facebook Gifts, and Facebook Offers, have been unsuccessful and Facebook does not have a strong history of public confidence when it comes to privacy. Still, Facebook does have around 1.23 billion members; if successful, this payments technology would represent competition to Google’s emerging Google Wallet app and the well-established eBay PayPal.

Read the FT article here:
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/0e0ef050-c16a-11e3-97b2-00144feabdc0.html#ixzz2yyexbeeh