The central bank of Brazil has given Meta, which owns WhatsApp, the green light to let users pay businesses through the app.
Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Meta, announced the news on Instagram, writing:
“The Central Bank just authorized the launch of our new payment feature so people will be able to pay small businesses right on WhatsApp. Excited to roll this out soon.”
Brazilians have been able to pay each other through WhatsApp since 2021, but payments to businesses have not been allowed until now.
The feature lets shoppers browse products, add them to a cart and make card payments from their WhatsApp chat.
Meta’s head of commerce and fintech, Stephane Kasriel, says that the company has put an open model at the top of its list of priorities and is already testing it with partner retailers.
Big news on our efforts to offer people the ability to pay small businesses on @WhatsApp in ??: the central bank has just granted authorization to launch. We’ve prioritized an open model & are testing now w/ several partners. Look fwd to bringing this to Brazil soon! pic.twitter.com/DrjmtgVA8E
