One of the largest banks in France will today unveil plans to let its customers - and those of other banks - send money through Twitter.

Groupe BPCE will be the "the first banking group to offer individuals a payment solution where they can transfer money with a simple Tweet", according to CEO Jean-Yves Forel.

It is understood that Twitter has not been involved in creating the service, which was built by Group BPCE's S-Money subsidiary, which has also built mobile and SMS payment systems.

But Olivier Gonzalez, CEO of Twitter France, said: "We warmly welcome this innovation developed by Groupe BPCE and the service it provides to Twitter users in France by integrating its S-Money service into a live, public, conversational dimension characteristic of Twitter."

Twitter is experimenting with its own payment system, known as Twitter Buy, which allows customers to buy products straight from the social media platform. Burberry has signed up.

Technology giants are becoming increasingly interested in online and mobile payments. Facebook is said to be working on its own payments system, operated through its Messenger app.

Group BPCE has yet to reveal the details, but the service will likely require an extra layer of identification for security - similar to sending money by SMS or on a smartphone app.

And this week Apple Pay is expected to launch, letting users pay for goods and services online and in the physical world using their phone.

It was announced by Apple last month at the launch of the iPhone 6 models.