Facebook Pay rolls out in the US following India trial

Facebook Pay joins an increasingly crowded market for online payment, with Google launching banking services next year

Facebook is rolling out Facebook Pay this week, supporting payments via its Messenger and Facebook platforms. Support for payments over WhatsApp and Instagram are promised "over time", but no firm date has been provided.

Previously trialled in India, Facebook Pay enables users to add their debit or credit card to the payment service and then use it to pay for goods and services over Facebook's messaging services and picture-posting apps, as well as its main social network.

"Facebook Pay supports most major credit and debit cards as well as PayPal," said Deborah Liu, vice president of Facebook's marketplace and commerce division.

Previously trialled in India, Facebook Pay enables users to add their debit or credit card to the payment service

She continued: "Payments are processed in partnership with companies like PayPal, Stripe and others around the world. Facebook Pay is built on existing financial infrastructure and partnerships, and is separate from the Calibra wallet which will run on the Libra network."

In addition to enabling users to buy goods on the social network's various platforms, it will also enable them to send money to friends and donate to fundraisers. At the same time, it will also make Facebook and its various properties an even bigger target.

Furthermore, Facebook is late to market and the company will face well-established competition from other in-app payment services, including Google Pay and Apple Pay. On top of that, Google is looking to get into banking services outright, starting in the US next year.

It's also open to question whether Facebook enjoys the same level of trust as Google and Apple when it comes to something as important as linking bank accounts to Facebook accounts.