Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) has launched an Android version of its Kaching social payments app and revealed that a Facebook option is in the pipeline.
CBA launched its Kaching iPhone app last year, enabling customers to make peer-to-peer transfers via the phone's contacts, e-mail addresses and Facebook friends, as well as contactless payments.
After 365,000 downloads and A$1 billion in transfers, the app is now coming to 13 Android devices, including the Samsung Galaxy S3, while the iOS version is getting an upgrade to add 'Bump' payment functionality, letting users tap handsets to share money.
In addition, the bank has unveiled plans for a dedicated Kaching Facebook app later this year, "making it possible for customers to do all their banking without ever leaving" the social network.
Users will be able to view their balances and transactions, make P2P payments to Facebook friends, mobile numbers and e-mail addresses, and make Bpay payments and third party transfers, all within the app. Transactions will be secured through the bank's NetCode SMS system.
David Lindberg, executive general manager, cards payments and retail strategy, CBA, says: "The power of Facebook for payments is only now becoming clear. It will change banking for consumers and for small business - providing hundreds of thousands of merchants in Australia with full payments systems access."