StrategicNYCSocial

Facebook and Banking Come Together Again

In another case of banks integrating their services with customer’s social networks, ING Direct Canada has introduced the Orange Snapshot application which allows customers to access their bank accounts through Facebook. Considering ING Direct Canada has no physical locations, online banking is of obvious importance to the company and its customers.

The new application allows users to check their accounts in one click within their social network page and share their experiences instantly through Facebook and Twitter. This, the company hopes the service will create a more ‘unified experience’ for the customer.

ING are the not the first bank to make their way in to social networking. In 2012, Citibank^® launched its ThankYou^® Point Sharing service, which allows members of the bank’s loyalty scheme, Citi ThankYou^® Rewards to send and receive ThankYou Points to and from their Facebook friends who are also ThankYou members. In July last year, Facebook even joined forces with Australia Commonwealth Bank (ACB) to create a new service where customers can make payments to their Facebook friends from the social networking site.

User concerns over privacy have limited mobile banking in the past. However, as banks now begin working on new biometric security features, such as fingerprint and voice recognition, customers may begin to become more trusting of banking through social networking sites and engage with their bank through these alternative channels.