First National Bank customers who are registered for the bank’s cellphone banking service can now check their balances and purchase airtime along with SMS, data and BlackBerry bundles using social media website Facebook.
The service does not allow for payments to beneficiaries, interaccount transfers or other banking services.
“As a bank, we average around 15 000 conversations monthly via social media with existing and potential customers. It is without a doubt that social media banking is the next frontier,” says the CEO of FNB Cellphone Banking, Ravesh Ramlakan.
To access the service using Facebook, customers need to link their existing Facebook profile to their cellphone banking profile via the FNB mobile website. After linking the two, customers can access the “FNB Banking on Facebook” application using the social media service.
Aside from purchasing prepaid products and checking balances, the Facebook application allows customers to view Lotto and PowerBall results.
Ramlakan says there are 4,7m Facebook users in SA and 150 000 of those are fans of FNB’s Facebook page. — (c) 2012 NewsCentral Media