India's Kotak Mahindra Bank (KMB) has launched a bank agnostic mobile money transfer service for Facebook friends.
The KayPay application taps into India's Immediate Payment Service for mobile phone payments to enable instant funds transfers from user accounts. Senders and recipients need to register their account details just once with KayPay. To initiate a transaction, users need their Facebook ID and password and a one-time password from KMB. Both sender and receiver immediately receive notifications via SMS and on Facebook about the transfer.
India's Icici Bank last year launched a rather more convoluted Facebook money transfer service, which required both sender and recipient to exchange coupons, passcodes and bank account details for each and every transaction.
Shanti Ekambaram, president - consumer banking, Kotak Mahindra Bank, says: "KayPay is bank agnostic, facilitating transfer of funds instantly. The convenience of not having to know payee details breaks down all barriers of a process, which otherwise requires a host of information that one may not necessarily have handy."