Facebook brings P2P payments to the UK
Written by Anthony Strzalek
08/11/2017
Facebook has launched its Messenger payments service in the UK, enabling users to send each other money through the messaging app.
Launched in the US in 2015, the social media giant has said that the payments feature has been used widely to split bills, pay babysitters and send gifts. Users press the blue plus symbol within a chat and select the payment option, with customers prompted to enter their card details upon the first time a payment is made.
The UK is the first market outside of the US to use the service, as Facebook said that it has many “mobile-savvy customers”.
A virtual assistant named ‘M’ will also be incorporated into the Messenger app, which can detect when users are talking about payments and will suggest the new feature.
The news comes just a few months after leaked company screenshots indicated that WhatsApp could soon be rolling out a new peer-to-peer (P2P) payments service.
The global messaging app, which was bought by Facebook back in February 2014 for $19 billion, looks close to adding the new payments feature which will enable WhatsApp users to wirelessly transfer money within the messenger service.
