CaixaBank launches Facebook app

Spain's CaixaBank has unveiled an app that lets customers check their bank balances and make transactions through Facebook.

In a European first, customers with a Facebook profile can sign up for the free app and then login using their online banking username and password.

Once inside the app, users are faced with a dashboard that lets them view account balances and transactions for current accounts, cards and bills.

Initially, transactions will be restricted to micro-donations that customers can make to specific charities but plans are afoot to bring in more options, including person-to-person payments.

The app also enables users to choose from photos on their Facebook profile to personalise new cards and offers a catalogue of over 1000 different designs to choose from based on their preferences and Facebook 'likes'.

CaixaBank says that the service is located in a fully secure and private environment that can only be opened by each customer and that Facebook does not have access to any personal or bank information.

Related Companies

CaixaBank Facebook

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Retail banking Security Payments

Keywords

Innovation Mobile & online banking Social media

Comments: (4)

Bradley Howard - Endava - London 06 May, 2014, 11:04

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It's astonishing that it's taken so long for Caixa to implement this.

And it's more astonishing how few other banks have implemented a Facebook channel (a financial services term which I usually argue against, but in this case it gets my point across).

Facebook penetration is so high, and with APIs already produced by financial services companies for mobile apps, creating a Facebook app should be a standard business approach.

While we're at it, why not use Facebook Connect to log into Internet banking? It's more secure than a 4 digit PIN number for my card. And a lot more traceable.

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A Finextra member 06 May, 2014, 13:41

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Maybe the way to value from Facebook users is thourgh hyper-targeted marketing and not thourgh banking transactions. The consumer banking segment is so unprofitable today it's going to take lots more than a Facebook-to-bank app to bring the business back.

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A Finextra member 06 May, 2014, 21:58

0 likes This is not the first, but is a member of a chain of applications and social networks that have committed some deal to exchange identity trusts. In principle, this is a good direction in which to move. In practise, we need to be just a bit careful. We need to support moves to create interoperability standards and we need to have a body to enforce compliance with them. I can hear the naysayers talking about yet more bureaucracy and red tape slowing down initiatives, but it would be much more difficult, expensive and embarrassing to back out of the sort of situation that would undoubtedly arise from unfettered use of cobbled together bipartisan arrangements.

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Ketharaman Swaminathan - GTM360 Marketing Solutions - Pune 07 May, 2014, 16:52

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In what was arguably a global first, ICICI Bank did this over 2 years ago in India (https://www.finextra.com/news/fullstory.aspx?newsitemid=23331). At the time, I'd commented that, since I found no compelling reason to switch away from NetBanking, I was unlikely to use the FB channel beyond my trial for novelty's sake. I predicted right. But that's only me. With more banks launching FB Banking, we'll soon know how many customers really wish to use social media for banking.