LONDON, May 16 /PRNewswire/ --

- Application Provides Low Cost Fundraising And Money Transfer Service

Moneybookers, one of Europe's largest online payment systems, is today launching a Facebook application that will enable its five million account holders to more cost effectively send and receive money transfers via their Facebook profile. While currently in beta, the application will be available to all Facebook users at the beginning of June - enabling account holders to rapidly and securely raise sponsorship money or charitable donations, collect debts, demand participation fees or make payments to and from anyone on Facebook.

The growth in social networking services, virtual worlds, online gaming and user generated content has not only changed the way people create and consume content, it has also changed the way people send and receive money online. Indeed, the area of micropayments has recently seen huge growth as users increasingly pay small amounts to consume items of digital content such as music or avatars. Furthermore, new trends such as social fundraising - raising donations or sponsorship via social networking sites - have emerged.

However, not every internet user is willing to go to the bother and risk of providing their credit card details to make such small payments. The rise in identity theft, which has gone up 50% since 2003, has made consumers increasingly cautious about giving out personal information online. Furthermore, some users are put off by the fees that third party payment services charge - even charitable fundraising services charge up to 5% on each transaction.

"With the Moneybookers integration on Facebook profiles, our customers can now collect money their friends owe them or launch a fundraising appeal with minimal hassle and without having to pay out exorbitant fees to third parties", explains Martin Ott, Managing Director at Moneybookers, at the first Facebook Developer Garage in Germany.

The ability to provide risk free micropayments is one of the reasons why Moneybookers has recently since such massive growth. "Nowadays people don't want to leave traces of their personal information everywhere they go online," continues Ott. "The benefit of Moneybookers is that once you've created a virtual account, you can rapidly and secure send and receive money without having to give out personal information to anyone else. We're now welcoming 9,000 new account holders everyday and our customers are purchasing a wide array of content - from personalising their online avatars to building their spaceship fleet for online games."

About Moneybookers

Moneybookers Ltd. (http://www.moneybookers.com) is one of Europe's largest online payment systems offering domestic payment options in 40 countries and customer service in 12 languages. With almost 5 million account holders Moneybookers is one of the largest e-wallets worldwide. Moneybookers enables any business or consumer to securely and cost-effectively send and receive payments online, simply by using an email address. More than 9,000 merchants use Moneybookers' gateway product, among them global ecommerce brands such as Skype, Foto.com, and QXL Ricardo. Dr. Thomas Middelhoff serves as the Chairman of the Board. Moneybookers was founded in 2001 in London and is regulated by the Financial Services Authority of the United Kingdom (FSA).

For more information please contact Toby Walsh at Rhubarb PR on +44(0)777-337-4545

For more information please contact Toby Walsh at Rhubarb PR on +44(0)777-337-4545.