Facebook’s decision to discontinue its peer-to-peer (P2P) Messenger payments option in the UK and France next month is due to poor adoption of the service by consumers, according to new figures from data analytics company GlobalData.

It was revealed in April that Facebook was scrapping the service – which enabled users to exchange money with friends and family – on 15 June.

The company said at the time that it was switching its focus to other payment concepts.

GlobalData cites poor take-up by consumers for the abandonment of Messenger payments, despite major UK banks embracing it at its launch in 2017.

GlobalData’s 2018 Retail Banking Insight Survey found that online and mobile remain by far the most popular channels for consumers, followed by telephone banking and branch visits, while instant messaging barely registers.

“On paper, banking via Facebook messaging sounds like a useful innovation, but in practice the functionality lags too far behind other channels to drive consumer adoption,” said GlobalData banking analyst Oliver Wintle.

“With both online and mobile banking allowing users to carry out a wider range of tasks, users do not typically stray far from their banking preferences — something banks must keep in mind when formulating their channel strategy,” he added.

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