Commonwealth Bank builds Facebook app

The Commonwealth Bank, in Australia, is building a Facebook app that will make it possible for its customers to make payments to third parties and to their friends through the social network, Pulse2 reports.

The bank will be securing the transactions using its own authentication system similar to the way it does with its mobile application. Facebook is currently working with just the Commonwealth Bank, but hopes other banks will follow the leader.

The bad part about conducting bank transactions through Facebook is that scammers could see this as a great way to make money through the social network. Facebook is already dealing with a massive scam about how hackers get into people's accounts and IM friends to tell them that they are stranded in London and need money wired to them using Western Union.

The bank's chief marketing and online officer, Andy Lark, said the institution was not seeking to reinvent banking, rather "help people manage their money and their lives" in ways that suited them, The Sydney Morning Herald writes.

"We as a society have migrated to Facebook [...] social banking is here," Lark said.

He said security would be a top priority for the bank, which was already preparing to fend off potential scamming attempts.