Would you bank on Facebook?

Fortune recently reported that Facebook could one day beyour online bank. The social network is quietly working with Commonwealth Bank of Australia on an application that would enable users to make payments to third parties and friends on Facebook, which is expected to launch later this year. This effort is part of Facebook's push to find additional ways to keep users engaged on its site longer and promote brand marketing for financial institutions. If all goes well, partnerships with other banks will surely follow.

At first, this foray by the social network struck me as odd (and a little scary... hopefully, banks are not foolish enough to allow their customers' transactions to appear on the news feed). After all banking activities are, by nature, private. However, the service would arguably be a convenient tool for many bank customers. Why not pay your bills at the same place you share photos online? Critics of this new direction would point out that users could be vulnerable to an additional channel for financial scams, but I'm not convinced that there is greater risk here than with the many forms of banking consumers are exposed to today (you're as likely to be duped by con artists via Facebook as via email).