Twitter will this week launch a new online payment system in cooperation with French bank Groupe BPCE. France’s second largest bank by costumers agreed last month to set up the system in which Twitter users could transfer money among each other by sending a “simple tweet,” Nicolas Chatillon, chief executive of BPCE’s mobile payments unit explained in a statement. Although the payment system would not require the recipient’s bank details and can work with any bank, the service will currently only be available to French costumers. According to a Business Insider report, Groupe BPCE will manage this payment system by using S-Money service, which “allows money transfers via text message and relies on the credit-card industry’s data security standards.” Twitter is competing with other tech giants such as Facebook or Apple to expand its online payment services. Although banks have generally lagged behind tech companies in developing their own projects, they have occasionally been invited to collaborate.
