The company is “a few weeks” away from obtaining regulatory approval in Ireland that will allow the network to offer monetary services, including e-money and remittances, according to the Financial Times.
Facebook has reportedly contacted the Irish central bank to request an “electronic cash” institution. It needs its users to be able to move electronic money through the network using a procedure called a “passport”.
Facebook has been in talks with three London-based startups that will offer foreign money transfer online and via smartphones, according to the report.
The three startups discussed include TransferWise, Moni Technologies, and Azimo and Facebook has reportedly presented the latter with $10 million to hire one of the co-founders as director of business development.
In the past, Facebook experimented with e-commerce on its site with a virtual currency called Facebook Credits.
It was hoped that the currency, which had an exchange rate of one U. S. dollar for 10 Facebook credits, would eventually be used to pay for most virtual goods on the platform.
However, Facebook abandoned the coin in June 2012 after it failed to achieve traction and switched people’s Facebook credits to its own currency.
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