Story by
Jon Russell
Jon Russell was Asia Editor for The Next Web from 2011 to 2014. Originally from the UK, he lives in Bangkok, Thailand. You can find him on T Jon Russell was Asia Editor for The Next Web from 2011 to 2014. Originally from the UK, he lives in Bangkok, Thailand. You can find him on Twitter, Angel List, LinkedIn.
Bank payment via Facebook is coming to Japan, if you’re a customer of Rakuten. The company is best known for its global e-commerce business, which includes the US site formerly known as Play.com, but it offers a range of other services in its homeland, including banking.
The new feature — which has been adopted in Singapore and the UK, but Rakuten says is a first for Japan — has been added to Rakuten Bank’s iOS and Android apps, which already support payment using email addresses. Customers simply log in to the app, connect their Facebook and Rakuten bank accounts, and select the Facebook friend to pay.
Transfers between two customers who have connected their accounts to Facebook are free, otherwise a 165 yen ($1.60) fee is charged. For now, the service supports Japanese yen only.
Related: Rakuten believes its chat app Viber can ‘completely change’ its e-commerce business
Thumbnail image via Stephen Lam / AFP / Getty Images
Get the TNW newsletter
Get the most important tech news in your inbox each week.
