Twitter to unveil details of money transfer service with French bank

Twitter plans to reveal details on Tuesday of a new money transfer service it expects to launch with one of France’s most digitally savvy banks.

European media have been invited to a press conference in Paris on Tuesday morning by BPCE. The bank, in the invitation, said the event will “mark the launch of its new payment service with a simple tweet.”

It’s the latest sign of just how hot and how competitive financial services have suddenly become. Last month, Twitter announced it was working to put a ‘Buy’ button in tweets that would be powered by Stripe. Facebook is also reportedly developing a payment service for its Messenger service.

And, of course, Apple is on the verge of launching its Apple Pay service.

Last month, BPCE announced plans for the service that it says will allow anyone in France who has a bank card and a Twitter account to send money to anyone in the country who has the same. The service is being developed by S-Money, an electronic money subsidiary of BPCE that also has created an electronic wallet service.

BPCE also recently made waves by creating a banking app for Google Glass.

“This initiative is a good example of our innovation strategy regarding payments,” BPCE chief executive for commercial banking and insurance Jean-Yves Forel said last month in a statement. “BPCE is the first banking group to offer individuals a payment solution where they can transfer money with a simple Tweet. This S-Money initiative opens up a whole new range of payment possibilities on the social networks.”

The service possibly also represents an attempt by Twitter to broaden its revenue beyond advertising.