WhatsApp will start the testing of its payment platform in Brazil ahead of wider roll-out by the middle of this year. This follows Brazil’s central bank approval for the Meta Platforms’ payments launch for small and medium-sized businesses.
Brazil’s central bank has approved Meta Platforms’ payments launch for small and medium-sized businesses in Brazil via its messaging application WhatsApp, building on the app’s existing local peer-to-peer payment system.
The approval comes as Meta seeks to use the Brazilian market as a key test space for business messaging, an area that has assumed greater urgency as Meta’s core advertising business has stalled.
WhatsApp users in Brazil have been able to make payments between users through the application since 2021, but the new development clears the way for merchants to receive payments.
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“Soon, WhatsApp users will be able to pay for products and services directly in a conversation with Mastercard and Visa debit and credit cards,” Guilherme Horn, head of WhatsApp Latin America, said in a Linkedin post.
Shortly after the central bank’s approval, Meta’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg said on his Instagram broadcast channel that “people will be able to pay small businesses right on WhatsApp”.
“Excited to roll this out soon,” he said.
Kelechi Deca
Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry