The integration with Facebook Messenger will enable users to send money and set up rate alerts from without leaving the social networking app.

"Set up alerts for as many currencies as you like, and TransferWise Bot will send you an update every morning," says the company. "And when the rate is right for you, you can ask the bot to set up your transfer."

The bot app was built using the TransferWise API and could easily be extended beyond Messenger to other popular chat platforms such as Apple's iMessage says Scott Miller, TransferWise head of global partnerships.

“Our mission at TransferWise is to bring faster, cheaper, and more convenient international money transfers to everyone in the world. Building the TransferWise bot for Messenger is a great step in that direction," he says . "It’s also a powerful example of how our API can be used to seamlessly integrate TransferWise into almost any messaging, bank, or business payment system.”

A new Gartner mobile apps survey shows that the number of consumers using messaging apps and personal assistant apps is continuing to grow. The survey showed that 35% of respondents said they used virtual personal assistants (VPAs) in 2016, up 4 percentage points from 2015. Seventy-one per cent of respondents used messaging apps, a 3 percentage increase in 2016.

Jessica Ekholm, research director at Gartner, says: "Users want rich and engaging app experiences and are increasingly looking for apps that can offer a multitude of services without users having to leave the app itself. This supports the move toward messaging and VPAs, and ultimately the post-app era."