French Twitter users can now transfer money using the social network 


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It was not that long ago that online banking was rolled out by all major banks, but now anyone living in France with a bank account and Twitter handle can send a tweet to transfer money.

The service, called S-Money, was developed by one of France's largest banks and uses the social network to send cash between users, who reportedly don't even have to enter bank details.

The move by Groupe BPCE, France's second largest bank by customers, coincides with Twitter's own push into the world of online payments as the social network seeks new sources of revenue beyond advertising.

The service, called S-Money, was developed by one of France's largest banks and uses Twitter (screenshot pictured) to send cash between users, who don't even have to enter bank details

The service, called S-Money, was developed by one of France's largest banks and uses Twitter (screenshot pictured) to send cash between users, who don't even have to enter bank details

Twitter is racing other tech giants Apple and Facebook to get a foothold in new payment services for mobile phones or apps and while S-Money is not an official Twitter product, it shows what is possible on social networks.

'(S-Money) offers Twitter users in France a new way to send each other money, irrespective of their bank and without having to enter the beneficiary's bank details, with a simple tweet,' Nicolas Chatillon, chief executive of S-Money, BPCE's mobile payments unit, said in a statement.

Payment by tweets will be managed via the bank's S-Money service, which allows money transfers via text message and relies on the credit-card industry's data security standards.

Facebook and Twitter are said to be working on ways for people to transfer money, making splitting the bill (illustrated) as easy as sending a message

Facebook and Twitter are said to be working on ways for people to transfer money, making splitting the bill (illustrated) as easy as sending a message

It is not clear at this time how the technology works and Mr Chatillon simply said: 'The ease of use and immediacy of the S-Money payment solution for individuals is perfectly adapted to the Twitter user experience.'

It appears that the service simply uses Twitter in a way that can be compared to third-party initiative such as Starbucks' #TweetACoffee and Amazon's #AmazonCart, where people use a specific hashtag in exchange for goods.

Last month, Twitter started trials of its own new service, Twitter Buy, to allow consumers to find and buy products on its social network

The service embeds a 'Twitter Buy' button inside tweets posted by more than two dozen non-profits music artists such as Pharrell and vendors such as Burberry and Home Depot.

Twitter's role to date has been to connect customers rather than processing payments or checking their identities.

'From the Twitter point of view, there is a limit to their appetite for getting involved in payments processing itself,' said Andrew Copeman, a payments analyst with financial services research firm AITE Group, who is based in Edinburgh, Scotland.

'At the moment, banks are probably viewing Twitter and other social media networks as marketing channels to reach a wider set of their customers and to extend the bank's existing mobile banking initiatives,' he said. 

Last month, Twitter started trials of its  new service, Twitter Buy, to allow consumers to find and buy products on its social network. The service embeds a 'Twitter Buy' button inside tweets posted by more than two dozen non-profits music artists such as Pharell and vendors such as Burberry (a catwalk show is pictured)

Last month, Twitter started trials of its new service, Twitter Buy, to allow consumers to find and buy products on its social network. The service embeds a 'Twitter Buy' button inside tweets posted by more than two dozen non-profits music artists such as Pharell and vendors such as Burberry (a catwalk show is pictured)

WHAT IS TWITTER BUY? 

Twitter is testing a 'buy button' which can generate cash from its users.

The button sits in a tweet and lets people simply click to buy what they see.

It's being tested in a 'small percentage of US users'.

A total of 20 brands, including retailers including Burberry, musicians such as Rihanna, and non-profits are involved in the trial.

The move is the first bug attempt by Twitter to generate revenue by a means other than advertising.

Once users have clicked 'Buy' they will be asked to enter their payment and shipping details, unless it is not their first purchase in which case their details could have been stored.

Twitter's success in developing additional services on its platform as Facebook has done will be key to its future profitability.

Rakuten Bank in Japan offers a similar 'Transfer by Facebook' service that lets users of its mobile banking app send money to anyone in their Facebook friends list.

Investors have been worried about Twitter's slowing user growth, sending the shares down about 17 per cent this year, while rival Facebook's have climbed 35 per cent.

Thomas Husson, a marketing strategy analyst with Forrester Research, said Twitter was likely to multiply efforts to explore new ways to generate revenue with banks and credit card firms.

'Twitter wants to more explicitly demonstrate the overall value of its network as an advertising platform,' he said.

Jean-Yves Forel, CEO of Groupe BPCE said: 'Groupe BPCE is the first banking group to offer individuals a payment solution where they can transfer money with a simple Tweet.

'This S-Money initiative opens up a whole new range of payment possibilities on the social networks.'

There is no indication that the service will be rolled out internationally.

...YOU COULD SOON PAY FRIENDS USING FACEBOOK TOO 

Friends using Facebook Messenger could soon send each other money in a very similar way to how they currently exchange photos within private messages.

This rumour is based on screenshots taken by a US computer science student who uncovered what he believes is Facebook's next move to make its stand-alone messaging service more popular.

The payment options appear to let users send money in the same way they send files, with the addition of in-app PIN code to boost security.

Andrew Aude, a student at Stanford University in California, used an iOS tool called Cycript on an iPhone to explore the 'forthcoming' feature, which has yet to be confirmed by Facebook,TechCrunch reported.

He said users will be able to pay friends at the touch of a button within a message, but at this stage it is not known whether the feature will be offered for free, or whether users will have to pay a charge for the convenience.

A Messenger payment service would go head-to-head with PayPal, as well as other peer-to-peer payment systems.

It would also make Facebook's offering stand out from other popular messaging apps such as WhatsApp.

'With FB messenger, you attach money just like you attach a photo or a location. You don't even have to link a bank account!' Mr Aude tweeted.

He continued that users can press a button to make a payment, entering the amount of money they want to send.

The transaction is not posted to a user's News Feed and is kept private.

Explaining how it works, Mr Aude said the system uses 'some magical means' to look up the bank account number of a recipient, before depositing the chosen sum of money.

Mr Aude believes that Facebook will roll out the feature in the US over the next few months, but concedes that it could take much longer.

 



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