Facebook to Make Mobile Payments Service Available Outside U.S.

Facebook is enabling people outside the U.S. to send money to each other via its Messenger texting app for the first time, according to Bloomberg.

The social network said that Messenger users in the U.K. will be able to send money to each other when the feature rolls out in the next few weeks. People will need to sign up with their debit cards to send or receive money.

“In the U.S. most people use payments in Messenger to send less than $50 at a time,“ David Marcus, head of Messenger, said in a statement. He added that the feature is most commonly used during social occasions.

Facebook began letting its users in the U.S. send cash to each other in 2015 but doesn’t charge for its use. The move is part of an increasing trend by tech giants to muscle in on the global payments industry.

Apple’s forthcoming Apple Pay Cash will let the company’s device owners send money to each other through its iMessage service. Square has a similar product called Square Cash, and PayPal’s Venmo has been a popular choice for younger users in particular.

In the U.K. however, the market is less saturated but new ways of payment are getting more popular. London buses, for example, don’t even accept cash; Apple Pay, Android Pay and other contactless services are widely used across retail and travel services.

Messenger has also been built upon by other firms to provide similar services. In February, international money transfer service TransferWise built a "bot" for Messenger, letting its users send money to each other through the platform. PayPal released a similar tool for the U.S. in October.