In social media sites, banks can do so much more than thank customers for their business.

Indeed, ASB Bank’s New Zealand customers will soon be able to pay their Facebook friends through the social platform thanks to a mobile app update announced this month.

“Kiwis are increasingly engaging with friends, family and businesses through social media and on average they have more Facebook friends than the typical Facebook user globally,” said Anna Curzon, ASB’s general manager of brand experience and digital channels, in a statement. “We know from talking to our customers that they are seeking out quicker, more convenient, and safer ways to make payments that reflect their lifestyle.”

This news marks a very innovative approach to P2P payments by a bank. Sure, there are mobile payment startups like Venmo that incorporate social interactions into apps’ offerings, but I can’t think of one American bank trying its hand at Facebook transactions. I mean, banks nationwide are still struggling to find their voice in the social stratosphere, let alone allow their customers to perform transactions through other websites. But there are good reasons for their reticence. Beyond regulation and security fears, the transactions through social sites would likely have limited utility in America — to date.

Auriemma Consulting Group Inc. recently pushed out research on where banks are in their social media strategy trajectories. Long story short? They aren’t far along. “A lot of banks are taking a wait-and-see approach before going full speed ahead,” Auriemma Consultant Scott Strumello tells Bank Innovation.

Though Strumello sees potential for banks to roll out transaction capabilities through social sites in the future, the firm’s research has not yet shown any trace of consumers  hankering for such features.

“They don’t expect to transfer funds,” Strumello says.

ASB Bank’s news conjures up an effort Vantage Credit Union launched a few years back. The Missouri-based credit union rolled out Twitter banking, tweetmymoney, in 2009. When Bank Innovation spoke to the credit union earlier this year about the service that allows people to access account information and make transfers via Twitter, an exec said the use case is very limited, which supports the research firm’s data.

“It’s a very niche service,” Eric Acree, executive vice president, told Bank Innovation. “It’s a specialized product that appeals to certain Twitter users.”

That limited appeal, in my opinion, most certainly has to do with the service’s novelty. As such, I expect that social media banking is a long ways off from becoming the norm in America  — if it even takes off. All the same, Auriemma pointed to something  that consumers are asking of banks through social channels already, which is this: they want tips and news. Younger consumers, for example, lack skills like reconciling checking accounts and sites like Twitter could serve as a venue for banks to help school them in financial skills, Strumello suggests.

“There are a lot of things to be done,” Strumello says. “Banks are just scratching the surface.”