First National Bank has registered a patent in South Africa for using instant messaging within a smartphone app to transfer money, according to local press reports.
FNB Connect head Farren Rope told MyBroadband that once they have registered, users can send money between FNB eWallet accounts to contacts as instant messages.
Roper says that the combination of instant messaging and mobile banking is unique and patentable, while the bank's CEO Michael Jordann has taken to Twitter to claim that the innovation could be "huge".