Months after speculations and rumors, WhatsApp has finally launched the
digital payments feature.The company tested the feature in India for over two
years but feature made a global debut in Brazil. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckrberg
revealed in a blog post that the feature is being officially rolled out in
Brazil.
“We’re excited to announce that starting today we’re bringing digital payments
to WhatsApp users in Brazil. People will be able to send money securely or
make a purchase from a local business without leaving their chat,” the company
said in a blog. The company also stated that it is building Facebook Pay which
would provide a secure and consistent platform to people to make payments
across all the Facebook-owned apps.
In addition, we’re making sending money to loved ones as easy as sending a
message, which could not be more important as people are physically distant
from one another. Because payments on WhatsApp are enabled by Facebook Pay,
in the future we want to make it possible for people and businesses to use
the same card information across Facebook’s family of apps,” the blog read.
The company further said that it while developing the Payments feature it
made security its priority. The payments method on WhatsApp will support
many authentication modes including a special six digit PIN or fingerprint,
which would be required to bar unauthorised access to the app.
“To start, we will support debit or credit cards from Banco do Brasil,
Nubank, and Sicredi on the Visa and Mastercard networks -and we are working
with Cielo, the leading payments processor in Brazil. We have built an open
model to welcome more partners in the future. Sending money or making a
purchase on WhatsApp is free for people. Businesses will pay a processing
fee to receive customer payments, similar to what they may already pay when
accepting a credit card transaction,” the WhatsApp blog read.
WhatsApp first tested the Payments feature in India way back in 2018. It was
available on the beta versions for over two years and there were rumors that
WhatsApp would launch the feature in May. Earlier, it was being reported
that The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has reportedly
granted its permission to WhatsApp to formally start its payments services
in India albeit in a phased manner. The Facebook-owned messaging app had
apparently collaborated with ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, and HDFC Bank to make
the feature available in India.
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