Dwolla, a new player
- Dwolla, a company based in Des Moines Iowa, set up a new platform designed for transferring funds using Twitter and Facebook. Dwolla is first targeting social network users, and intends to quickly expand to merchant websites interested in the advantages proposed by their service, which bypasses card-related transaction costs.
- In fact, after creating a Dwolla account, the customer only has to provide the recipient's e-mail address to transfer money. The latter receives an e-mail alerting him of the transfer. He must then provide Dwolla with his bank account details to receive the amount. This new platform charges a set fee of 25 cents per transaction, compared to 2% of the paid amount, or more for players such as PayPal.
- Dwolla already proposes iPhone and Android applications. Relying on Banque Veridan and the operator The Members Group, the transactions are processed through the Federal Reserve’s CSM.
- Dwolla is not the first company to invest in m-payment or mobile fund transfers using social networks. PayPal offers a P2P payment model, though Dwolla’s solution is less expensive. Several players are now trying to avoid card payment fees and related high transaction costs and favour a system based on transfers (of direct debits). This model was developed by companies like Cards Off or SlimPay in France.