Facebook may be set to make even more moves into the commerce world after announcing the creation of a new dedicated finance business unit.
Bloomberg reports that the new F2 (Facebook Financial) group will oversee all of the company’s commerce and payments-related projects as it looks to widen its technology reach even further.
This includes Facebook Pay, used on the eponymous social network as well as its Messenger companion instant messaging app, but also WhatsApp Pay, the burgeoning payments service that the company is currently trying to launch in multiple nations across the globe.
Facebook F2
F2 is reportedly headed up by David Marcus, the brains behind Facebook’s notorious Libra cryptocurrency service, with the company’s Novi digital wallet (previously called Calibra) also falling under the umbrella of the new group.
The move comes as Facebook looks to shift towards a more profitable business model based on advertising and the ease of reaching customers on its platforms.
Facebook has over 2.6 billion monthly active users worldwide, with WhatsApp boasting around two billion monthly active users too, signifying a potentially huge user base for advertisers to target – with Facebook getting a healthy cut.
Although not having the same scale of impact as the likes of Apple Pay and Android Pay, Facebook Pay has enjoyed a good amount of growth since its launch in November 2019. Users can link the service to a credit card or PayPal account, allowing them to send and receive funds on Messenger, WhatsApp and Instagram.
Facebook Pay supports most major credit and debit cards as well as PayPal, which along with Stripe and other payments firms will handle transaction processing.
Via Bloomberg
