French users can now transfer money to each other via Twitter
Is this a new era for online payments?
One of France's largest banks is teaming up with social network Twitter this week in a deal that will allow its customers to transfer money via tweets.
This is part of Twitter's own push into the world of online payments as it seeks to improve its growth by seeking new sources of revenue beyond advertising.
The French bank, Groupe BPCE, said that it was prepared to offer single person-to-person money transfers via Twitter to French consumers, regardless of what bank they use. And this can be done without knowing the recipient's banking details.
"S-money offers Twitter users in France a new way to send each other money, irrespective of their bank and wihout having to enter the beneiciary's bank details, with a simple tweet." - Nicholas Chatillon, the chief executive of S-money, the mobile payments subsidiary of BPCE
Twitter is currently in a tight race with other tech giants like Apple, which recently unveiled Apple Pay, and Facebook to get a foot hold in new payment services for mobile phones or apps.
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.” - Thomas Husson, a marketing strategy analyst with Forrester Research,
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