South Africa’s First National Bank (FNB) has registered a patent in its domestic market related to the use of instant messaging for money transfer on a mobile device, according to BusinessTech.

Users of the FNB app, say reports, can send money to a contact (as an instant message) in much the same way they would send a photo.

Funds are sent from (and received to) an FNB eWallet, a service open to non-FNB customers and linked to the mobile number.

FNB says the registration process is easy, requiring only a green bar-coded South African identity book.

The bank’s chief executive, Michael Jordaan, claimed on Twitter that the innovation could be “huge”.