Facebook has announced that London is to become the focus of its drive to roll-out payments across its WhatsApp messaging service.

WhatsApp is looking to recruit 100 new staff members in the capital as parent company Facebook continues with its push to monetise the social media messaging platform, which is used by 1.5 billion people globally.

The WhatsApp team in London will grow by about a quarter, with software engineers expected to be located in the capital, along with additional operations staff in Dublin, according to the Financial Times.

The new staff will be tasked with building a payments function in addition to anti-spam and additional safety features on the app.

Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s chief executive announced WhatsApp’s move into mobile payments last week.

In an address to the F8 developers conference, he said that the service would be launched in several countries over the course of this year following a pilot in India.

“Payments is one of the areas where we have an opportunity to make it a lot easier. I believe it should be as easy to send money to someone as it is to send a photo,” he said.

Commenting on the recruitment drive, Matt Idema, WhatsApp's chief operating officer said: "We’re eager to work with some of the best technical and operational experts in both London and Dublin to take WhatsApp into its second decade.

"WhatsApp is a truly global service and these teams will help us provide WhatsApp payments and other great features for our users everywhere.”

It comes after Facebook and its WhatsApp and Instagram platforms announced plans to introduce new shopping features, as the social media giants look to challenge Amazon’s retail dominance.

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