Facebook to join the world of mobile payments

Mobile payment apps may have some competition on the way from social media.

Facebook Inc. recently announced its instant messaging app will soon allow stateside users to send each other money via debit cards linked to their account.

Money sent over the app might take a little longer to receive than the average text or photo. Whereas other apps featuring money transfer capability, such as Paypal’s Venmo and Snapchat’s Snapcash, operate through network-managed accounts, Facebook will use the conventional method of bank-to-bank transfers.

The world’s largest social network has 1.4 billion users, and 500 million of these use the messaging service, according to The Economist.

News of the social network’s move on mobile payments arrives on the heels of other tech companies already racing into online money transfers. Google recently purchased Softcard from wireless carriers AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon to facilitate smartphone payments, while Apple’s new smartwatch will reportedly allow users to pay at the register with the wave of a wrist.

Read more from The Economist.