Should 'social' mean 'shared'?

I agree.  Financial institutions of all stripes should be actively developing ideas to leverage the Facebook Platform as more than simply a marketing channel.  With 600 million users, 50% of whom login in every day and spend an average of 7-10 hours/month, there is clearly an opportunity here for more than brand management.  One of the main issues, as you mention, is security.  Facebook's dodgy history with respect to protecting user privacy has, I think, severely handicapped its ability to position itself as more than a platform for user-generated content and social gaming.

I like your concept.  Personally, I use Facebook more and more as a single point of entry for all my content - blogs posts, tweets, news.  It would be nice if it also provided for a single point of entry for managing my life - shopping, travel, and, yes, finance.  I think that this is what's starting to happen, gradually, via Facebook Connect.  But I'm still required to access myriad sites individually, opening a dozen or more tabs at a time within my browser window.

The challenge I think for financial institutions is not only designing a secure, bank-hosted application using Facebook Connect, but overcoming the anxiety surrounding Facebook's perception as a swiss cheese network.  It might require Facebook allowing users to further customize their experience through a walled-off area of their profile, an area which is only meant for the user's eyes.  I think the messaging feature is a starting point.

You're right - just because it's a social network doesn't mean we have to share everything.

Thanks David. I don't think you are alone in your usage of Facebook - for many people Facebook is the internet. We are almost coming full circle for these people, as what Facebook are achieving reminds me of the early days of AOL, and indeed what the MNO's first delivered when they launched WAP - the walled garden. If you want to get in front of your customers, you have to be within those walls.

Of course, security will be a key element. Are we seeing the movement of Facebook becoming a de-facto federated ID - the global SSO? I'm not sure that banks would accept this; perhaps we will have limited read-only when you are using your Facebook ID, then requiring a higher level of authentication to view in more detail or transact. Another risk is that your Facebook authentication becomes the proverbial keys to the bank - if your Facebook ID is broken into, how much wider damage could be done?

However, whilst the banks may not allow you to perform much using a Facebook ID, it is strange how a number of banks allow you to consolidate your financial data through an aggregation service...