UK bank first direct has teamed up with social payments startup PayKey to let customers send money to friends from within apps such as WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger.
Until now, making payments required first direct customers to launch their banking app or login to online banking and enter the transaction details.
Now, PayKey's technology means that they can make a secure P2P payment while still in any messaging app where the phone’s keyboard is used.
To make a payment, users tap an fdpay icon on their phone's keyboard and are authenticated via the app before making a payment tapping the UK banking industry’s Paym service which uses the recipient's phone number. Immediate payments up to £350 a day possible.
Joe Gordon, head, first direct, says: “We’re always listening to what customers say they want in order to give them the best service we can, and they told us it would be great if they were able to pay a contact within an already open conversation.
“People want to be able to manage their finances easily and securely, and fdpay is just another way for first direct to provide customers with a service they will find useful.”
Israeli outfit PayKey has scored deals with several major financial institutions, including ING, Standard Chartered and Mastercard.
However, in 2017 the firm found itself at the centre of a dispute between Westpac and Apple, with the latter demanding the Australian bank remove PayKey from iPhones.