According to Bloomberg’s August 10 report, Facebook’s social media giants have launched a new product group called Facebook Financial (F2) in an effort to penetrate the fintech sector. The goal of the new product group is to promote payments and commercial opportunities and will be headed by David Marcus, head of Facebook Libra, and will run payment projects for the company, such as Facebook Pay.
This latest development is evident that Facebook is attempting to bring its earlier fintech projects together. In addition, Marcus will continue to head the rebranded wallet of Facebook Libra, Novi (formerly Calibra). Facebook has recently hired former CEO of Upwork Inc, Stephanie Kasriel, to serve as vice president of payments under Marcus. Facebook has freshened Whatsapp and Instagram in the past two years to ensure everyone knows they belong to Facebook. Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO, also revealed the intentions to merge all the firm’s messaging platforms.
Zuckerberg happy with fintech integration on messaging platforms
Facebook believes that if payments can be made through WhatsApp, Instagram, and Messenger, the value of Facebook’s advertising will surge, with users spending a lot of time on the firm’s messaging platforms. Back in July, during Facebook’s Q2 earnings call, Zuckerberg, noted he was happy with the “commerce” in the messaging platforms. He also noted:
“As payments grow across Messenger and WhatsApp, and as we’re able to roll that out in more places, I think that that will only grow as a trend.”
Evidently, with the firm’s endless efforts over the years to include payments into Facebook, this new division is a sign of Facebook’s devotion to penetrate the payment industry. The new product’s immediate goal will be to launch payments through WhatsApp in developing countries such as India and Brazil. Notwithstanding Facebook’s steps to develop a blockchain-based cryptocurrency.
Regulatory headaches have become common for the social media giants
However, Facebook has encountered regulatory kickbacks on all sides due to allegations of being monopolistic. Furthermore, the social media giants have faced routine suspicion whenever they have tried tapping into the payments sector. Notably, recently Brazilian authorities suspended WhatsApp Pay and Facebook’s Libra project had to undergo some adjustments before delighting the regulators.