Meta Platforms has begun rolling out its payments tool to
small and medium-sized firms through its WhatsApp messaging platform in Brazil,
part of Meta's strategy to use the Brazilian market as a key test space for
business messaging.
The development of business messaging has become all the more
urgent as Meta's core advertising business has stalled.
The service, provided in partnership with payment processors
including MercadoLibre's (MELI.O) Mercado
Pago, Itau Unibanco's (ITUB4.SA) Rede
and Cielo (CIEL3.SA),
will allow WhatsApp users to make purchases and pay directly through the app
with credit and debit cards from Mastercard and Visa, Meta said in a statement.
The tool will initially be available for some merchants that
use WhatsApp Business. Clients of WhatsApp's API, which mainly serves large
businesses, will be able to receive payments in the future, it added.
While Brazil is the first country to have the service
launched for small businesses using the free version of WhatsApp Business, in
India, WhatsApp's largest market, users can make payments to businesses that
use the application's paid API.
The announcement comes after Brazil's central bank approved the
tool last month after nearly three years of regulatory scrutiny, as authorities
feared the service could hit competition, efficiency, and data privacy.
WhatsApp users in Brazil
have been able to make payments between users through the app since 2021, and
last year, Meta launched a commercial directory for WhatsApp in Brazil, allowing users to find
companies with business messaging accounts.
Source:
Reuters
