Brazil’s central bank gives green-light for WhatsApp payments

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Brazil’s central bank gives green-light for WhatsApp payments

By Alexandra Leonards

1/4/2021

Brazil’s central bank, Banco Central do Brasil (BCB), has licensed the use of WhatsApp for initiating fund transfers.

WhatsApp attempted to launch the transfer service last June, but the bank said that licencing the service could negatively impact the country’s existing payments system.

The BCB launched its own instant payments service ‘Pix’ last year, which has reportedly been widely adopted by Brazilian customers.

The bank’s authorisation is related to the use of the messaging service for fund transfers between cardholders from Visa and MasterCard and is part of the Facebook Pay program.

It said that the licenses “don’t contemplate Visa and MasterCard applications for the usage of

WhatsApp under their traditional card schemes, involving purchases in local merchants, which remain under analysis by the BCB.”

The BCB said it believes that the licenses granted may “bring new perspectives of cost reduction for users of payment services.”

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