Facebook Messenger users can now send money to each other with PayPal

Facebook is making a new push into the payments space by expanding its partnership with PayPal.

Facebook Messenger users can now send and request money directly in the app via their PayPal accounts.

Facebook Messenger and PayPal initially partnered last year to enable customers to link their accounts and use PayPal to shop on Messenger. The new announcement expands the partnership into peer-to-peer payments.

At the moment, the peer-to-peer payments system is only available in the U.S., where PayPal has over 2.5 million customers.

Additionally, PayPal customers can now use a customer service chat bot in Messenger allowing them to reset passwords, handle account inquiries and helping with payment issues in the app.

Facebook has been working on bringing payments to its platforms for some time, and this latest push makes it a competitor to other peer-to-peer payments options such as Apple's new Pay Cash, Square Cash, Snapchat's payments and PayPal's own Venmo application.

:story: CNBC