Facebook just a social network. The popular website plans to facilitate financial services, in the form of electronic money and remittances, as reported in a report by the Financial Times.
The publication, citing sources familiar with the matter, reports that Facebook will in a few weeks receive approval from the Irish regulator to create a service that will allow users to store money on Facebook and use it to pay third parties. The service is also known as “electronic money.” This means that Facebook will be able to issue electronic money that can be used across Europe in a process known as “passporting.”.
Facebook is also reported to be in talks with at least three London-based startups that offer international online and mobile money transfer services: TransferWise, Moni Technologies, and Azimo. It wouldn't be out of the question to hear of an acquisition of one of the startups, with an outrageous amount of money from the social network. After all, we're used to this kind of thing by now.
Electronic money and the upcoming remittances will help Facebook have a significant presence in emerging markets. Last week, for example, Facebook surpassed 100 million users in India. Already, major Chinese companies Alibaba and Tencent have developed mobile payment apps that seek to capitalize on e-commerce, replacing traditional payment methods and offering payments without banks and credit cards.
