WhatsApp introduces its new online payment service in Brazil, initiates tie-ups with banks and payment processors

After testing the payment service in India for around two years, Whatsapp has finally launched ‘Whatsapp Pay’ in Brazil. “Today we’re starting to launch payments for people using WhatsApp in Brazil. We’re making, sending and receiving money as easy as sharing photos,” said CEO Mark Zuckerberg in his recent Facebook post. He also mentioned that WhatsApp has been working closely with local banks and other major payments processor for merchants in Brazil.

The messaging platform will initially support debit or credit cards only from Banco do Brasil, Nubank and Sicredi on the Visa and Mastercards. However, it has welcomed more partners who would want to associate with it in the future. With a whopping 400 million users in India, WhatsApp had been testing its payments service in India based on UPI and was even hopeful of extending the service to a larger scale however, after facing regulatory issues, the launch of a full-fledged online payment service had to be delayed, thus making Brazil the first country where the service is to be launched.

It has been working closely with Visa Inc and with the incorporation of Visa’s trusted payment technology, it aims to make its new payment service all the more secure and swift. “Using our technology to open up avenues like Whatsapp for more people to shop and pay each other digitally is an incredibly powerful proposition that we’re excited to bring to life,” said Jack Forestell, Chief Product Officer, Visa.

Visa has also introduced a new, cloud-based feature – Visa Cloud Token that protects and removes sensitive payment information of the consumers and can be enabled across any kind of device. With this, Brazilian consumers not only become the first in the world to have been introduced to WhatsApp online payment feature but also the new technology by Visa.