Facebook might add your banking info to Messenger

Facebook wants to incorporate your banking info into Messenger and has approached companies like JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Citigroup and US Bancorp over the past year, the Wall Street Journal reports. People familiar with the discussions told the publication that Facebook has sought data on card transactions and checking account balances and has proposed giving its users access to banking information such as account balances and fraud alerts through Messenger. The move comes as Facebook tries to boost engagement and banks grapple with how to reach more customers digitally.

But Facebook is still dealing with the fallout of the Cambridge Analytica scandal, which generated a lot of distrust in how the company manages its users' data. The social media giant is facing lawsuits over the debacle in the US and the UK, is being investigated by various agencies and has inspired a handful of data privacy bills in both the House and the Senate. At least one major US bank left talks with the company due to privacy concerns, the Wall Street Journal reports.

A JPMorgan spokesperson told the publication that it wouldn't be "sharing our customers' off-platform transaction data with these platforms, and have had to say no to some things as a result."

"Like many online companies, we routinely talk to financial institutions about how we can improve people's commerce experiences, like enabling better customer service," Facebook spokesperson Elisabeth Diana told the Wall Street Journal. "An essential part of these efforts is keeping people's information safe and secure." Google and Amazon have also reportedly sought banking info in order to incorporating bank services into their virtual assistants.

Earlier this year Facebook halted a research project that aimed to collect individuals' anonymized medical information from both healthcare providers and its own platform. In April, the company said it had decided to put a hold on the project so it could focus on "doing a better job of protecting people's data."

Messenger has been a focus for Facebook in regards to both customer service and commerce. The company introduced a Messenger money transfer service in 2015 and expanded the tool to UK users last year. Facebook has also incorporated PayPal services into Messenger.

Source: Wall Street Journal



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