The FINANCIAL — Looking through the high dynamic of online users and online transactions Liberty Bank decided to offer a new service to their customers.
Money transfer through Facebook is available only for the users who have Smart Card of Liberty Bank.
Currently Smart Card has more than 100,000 unique users and their number is increasing fast, according to Liberty Bank.
“A Facebook transfer is the most easy, comfortable and safe way of transferring money,” Nino Khurodze, Head of the Marketing Department of Liberty Bank, said. “The transaction finishes in minutes and it is 100 percent safe.”
“The number of users of our new service is increasing daily,” she claims.
But Khurodze refuses to name the exact number of transactions already operated through Facebook as the service is still new.
Liberty bank has created a special application for the new service.
The maximum daily limit of money transfers through Facebook is 100 GEL (60 USD) and the transaction is completely free for the sender. One percent will be deducted from the account of the recipient of the money.
“Transfers through Facebook are as safe as online banking,” Khurodze told The FINANCIAL.
The only necessary requirements for the transactions are to have a Smart Card and to be registered on Facebook. Card information, including a password, isn’t necessary. An individual who has a registered Smart Card can send money to any Facebook friend. If the recipient doesn’t have a Smart Card, he/she has 7 days to register and get the money. On the other hand, he/she can take the money at any service center or office of Liberty Bank.
“We did our research beforehand. It showed that people are tired of standing in queues in banks. More and more people transfer money through the Internet. As a result we offered a completely new service of Facebook transfers,” Khurodze said.
“The main advantage of the service is that it’s simpler than online banking. Online transactions were somehow inconvenient for users as they required the account and some other details. Such details are boring and negatively influence on the number of online transactions. That’s why we offered Facebook transfers, a very simple process without any inconveniences,” she said.
“Users of the new service are people from different social levels, types and age groups,” Khurodze said. “We specially chose Facebook as it’s the most popular social network in Georgia and has all types of users. It gives us the opportunity to cover a broader segment.”
Facebook had about 630,560 users living in Georgia at the beginning of September, according to Facebook statistics. The majority of them, about 407,840 users, are up to the age of 30. Out of the whole number 346,660 are female and 272,300 are male. The other 11,600 users have not revealed their gender information.
“Liberty Bank has some future plans in relation to this new service. We will improve and diversify our offers to the clients,” she added.
Money transfer by mobile phone was launched by Liberty Bank parallel to the Facebook transfers. In the case of mobile phone transfers, the maximum daily limit is 50 GEL (30 USD). The service is also free for the sender and one percent will be deducted from the account of recipient of the money, the same as in the Facebook transfer. The service is available for the users of the three mobile companies operating in Georgia.
“The only necessary thing for mobile transfers is to know the Smart name of the recipient. The user of the service types the name and amount of money and sends to the number 5000. The money will be transferred in a few minutes,” Khurodze said.
Meri Khmelidze, 25, is an active user of Facebook. Because of her job, Khmelidze has to frequently make many transactions through the Internet. She likes the idea of money transfers through Facebook, but thinks that it doesn’t look serious enough.
“I transferred money using the Facebook application several times,” Khmelidze said “but always to my friends and relatives. They were not business transfers. It is very simple and convenient but not for business reasons.
In Georgia the popularity of various functions of the Internet, including online transactions, has been growing among the Georgian population for last several years.
The number of online transactions has increased more than five times since 2007. A total of 8,350,000 GEL was transacted by 209,158 operations through the Internet in July 2011 in comparison to 1,949,000 GEL transacted by 20,807 online transactions in July 2007. In July 2010, 3,197,000 GEL was transacted by 128,497 operations on the Internet.
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