RBC Royal Bank of Canada has brought person-to-person money transfers to Facebook via an enhancement to its existing mobile app. The new service notifies recipients of the arrival of funds via Facebook and does not require their email address or a mobile phone number.

RBC said it worked with Facebook to enhance its RBC Canada app to allow customers to send Interac electronic transfers to their contacts on Facebook Messenger. Interac e-Transfer, a Canadian online service enabling the transfer of money from one person's bank account to another person's bank account, is available through more than 200 financial institutions.

RBC's new service allows RBC clients to select a friend or family member from their Facebook Messenger friend list, transfer the funds via Interac e-Transfer from their RBC bank account and send a message to the recipient.

The message will arrive in the recipient's Facebook Messenger inbox, directing them to log in to the financial institution of their choice to deposit the funds, as they would with existing Interac e-Transfer today.

Facebook said it has 9.4 million daily mobile users in Canada. "We worked closely with RBC to make it easier for people to send person-to-person money transfers to contacts on Messenger," Jordan Banks, Facebook Canada's global head of vertical strategy and managing director, said in a statement.

RBC will donate C$1 for every Interac e-Transfer messaged via Facebook in support of Kids Help Phone, up to C$100,000. Its new service is available on the iPad, with iPhone capability coming in February and other platforms later in the year. The RBC Canada app for iPads can be downloaded for free from the Apple app store.

Learn more about money transfer/P2P.