Despite the Heartbleed stories in recent weeks, Facebook Inc. has expressed its intentions to join the mobile payment race with remittances and electronic-money services on the social network. Facebook in recent times has been faced with questions of security and privacy but how well they will do in this respect is a big question. It was even suggested that Facebook wants to be everywhere with the acquisitions of companies like Oculus Rift and Whatsapp. Facebook has talked about potential partnerships with at least three London startups that offer international money transfer services online and through smartphones.
The conversations have been with TransferWise, Moni Technologies and Azimo, the last of which Facebook offered to pay $10 million to recruit one of its co-founders as a director of business development. Facebook’s money transfer project is being spearheaded by Sean Ryan, who is the company’s vice president of platform partnerships. Facebook is already authorized in the U.S. to process payments for developers who charge users for in-app purchases.
Global mobile transactions are expected to grow at an average 35 percent per year between 2012 and 2017, according to a report by research firm Gartner. The June 2013 report forecast a $721 billion market with more than 450 million users by 2017.
