Facebook asked banks for financial information from customers

Entities such as JPMorgan, Wells Fargo, Citi or US Bank were contacted by Facebook to discuss possible deals for customers available through the social network. The requested information includes credit card transactions and account balances.

Facebook has asked some of the top US banks to share financial information about their customers in order to improve the services it provides to its users. Information requested from banks includes data on credit card transactions and account balances, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Entities such as JPMorgan, Wells Fargo, Citi or US Bank were contacted by Facebook to discuss possible offers for customers available via Facebook.

Sources heard by the newspaper indicate that "Facebook questioned [the institutions] about a function that would allow users to check their account balance" and adapt the information presented according to the products that consumers had purchased in recent days. The newspaper reports that one of these banks has withdrawn from the negotiations, believing that this compromised the privacy of its customers.

In a statement, Facebook points out that "like many other companies", the company routinely "talks to financial institutions about how it can improve people's business experiences". The social network also guarantees that it does not use the data of purchases of banks for "publicity" and "does not have special relations, partnerships or contracts with banks or companies".

Sources surveyed indicate that other technology companies such as Alphabet or Amazon have also asked banks to share this type of data to offer basic banking services through applications such as Google Assistant or Alexa.

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