Facebook is launching its payment gateway and they didn’t want to complicate matters, they just named it Facebook Pay. The new payment system comes just as big names like PayPal have dropped out of its Calibra crypto wallet and Libra. Facebook Pay is available across Facebook’s major brands like Messenger, WhatsApp and Instagram to offer users a seamless and smooth way to make payments across the platforms. This is the latest in Facebook’s attempt at unifying its three main platforms. You may recall that just a week ago, Facebook announced a new logo that reflects its main Facebook App, WhatsApp and Instagram. Facebook Pay will allow you send money to friends, make donations and shop among others.
In a blog post today, Deborah Liu who is the VP, Marketplace & Commerce at Facebook said Facebook Pay will let you add a payment method just once and then when next you have to carry out a transaction, Facebook Pay take it from there by remembering your favourite payment method. Talking about the big three in the Facebook family, you will be able to set up Facebook Pay on say Instagram and then use it across Messenger and WhatsApp. This according to her is designed to save you the time you would have had to spend setting it up in each of the apps.
Facebook Pay will launch in the United States this week. It will at first be accessible for fund raisers, person to person payment, purchases from Pages and businesses on the Facebook marketplace. According to the post, Deborah Liu said “Over time, we plan to bring Facebook Pay to more people and places, including for use across Instagram and WhatsApp.”
You can start using the service by following the steps below;
- Go to “Settings” > “Facebook Pay” on the Facebook app or website
- Add a payment method
- The next time you make a payment, use Facebook Pay
It is important to note at this point that Facebook Pay will be separate from Calibra and Libra. Facebook Pay supports most major credit and debit cards as well as PayPal. Payments are processed in partnership with companies like PayPal, Stripe and others around the world. Facebook Pay is built on existing financial infrastructure and partnerships, and is separate from the Calibra wallet which will run on the Libra network
There is currently no information as to whether this service will spread to other countries or when but when we hear more, we will share it with you. I would expect that the service will gradually spread to other regions.
By allowing its over 2.5 billion users to send money to each other in future, Facebook could well easily dominate the global remittance field. Uber is also taking advantage of its diverse field of user (drivers and riders) by launching its Uber Money which could well be on its way to becoming a major global remittance too. According to the World Bank, in 2018 overall global remittance grew 10% to US$689 billion, including US$528 billion to developing countries. Overall global remittance is expected to grow 3.7% to US$ 715 billion in 2019, including US$549 billion to developing nations.
