Facebook recently pulled the ability for users to pay their friends via Messenger, due to its lack of popularity among users in France and UK. Moreover, this fiasco has led the company to drop for now this loose approach to banking.
The feature was very simple and it worked as a common wallet model integrated within the messenger functionality: it allowed users to set up a payment account enabling them to both send and receive money via the app and using the Facebook network system. As it has been seen, the offering didn’t quite take off among the social media users and the company has been ultimately forced to cancel it. Specially reluctant were users from the UK and France, according to the latest Globaldata report.
Precisely a Banking Analyst at GlobalData, Oliver Wintle, has talked about how Facebook incursion has ended in a dead end: “The Facebook messenger functionality got all of the major UK banks on board when it was launched in 2017, but consumer uptake never took off. GlobalData’s 2018 Retail Banking Insight Survey found that 55% of users in France and 71% of users in the UK have never used Instant messaging to complete banking tasks.”
Likewise, the GlobalData’s survey found that users who actively use online banking, at least once a month, state that it is their preferred channel to complete different banking tasks – including checking their balance, paying bills, and depositing cheques.
Mobile banking users also show loyalty in terms of their preferred channel; with mobile banking favoured for conducting activities such as checking their balance, viewing transactions and statements, and transferring money to other people.
Wintle continues, “On paper, banking via Facebook messaging sounds like a useful innovation, but in practice the functionality lags too far behind other channels to drive consumer adoption. With both online and mobile banking allowing users to carry out a wider range of tasks, users do not typically stray far from their banking preferences – something banks must keep in mind when formulating their channel strategy.”
Hernaldo Turrillo is a writer and author specialised in innovation, AI, DLT, SMEs, trading, investing and new trends in technology and business. He has been working for ztudium group since 2017. He is the editor of openbusinesscouncil.org, tradersdna.com, hedgethink.com, and writes regularly for intelligenthq.com, socialmediacouncil.eu. Hernaldo was born in Spain and finally settled in London, United Kingdom, after a few years of personal growth. Hernaldo finished his Journalism bachelor degree in the University of Seville, Spain, and began working as reporter in the newspaper, Europa Sur, writing about Politics and Society. He also worked as community manager and marketing advisor in Los Barrios, Spain. Innovation, technology, politics and economy are his main interests, with special focus on new trends and ethical projects. He enjoys finding himself getting lost in words, explaining what he understands from the world and helping others. Besides a journalist he is also a thinker and proactive in digital transformation strategies. Knowledge and ideas have no limits.
