Visa has announced that it is working with Facebook to help power the new payments feature on WhatsApp in Brazil. With the addition of Visa’s trusted payment technology, WhatsApp users will now be able to swiftly and securely send and receive money to family and friends, and to make purchases from small businesses on the popular global messaging service.
Payments on the messaging platform are made possible by tapping into the capabilities of Visa Direct, Visa’s real-time push payments technology, and Visa Cloud Tokenization, Visa’s new cutting-edge security capability that launches today in conjunction with payments on WhatsApp.
“As digital becomes the epicenter of daily life during the global pandemic, being able to move money in real-time is increasingly critical for consumers and businesses,” said Jack Forestell, Chief Product Officer, Visa.
“Using our technology to open up avenues like WhatsApp for more people to shop and pay each other digitally is an incredibly powerful proposition that we’re excited to bring to life.”
Thus far, Visa has seen global transactions on Visa Direct grow approximately 70 percent throughout COVID-19. With the addition of payments on WhatsApp, Visa Direct continues to power P2P services with all the major global digital platforms.
“This is an exciting milestone for Visa, as it’s exactly how we strive to make payments easier for our partners – by harnessing our powerful products to help global technology platforms like WhatsApp enable compelling payment experiences,” continued Forestell.
Beginning today, select Brazilian WhatsApp users will gradually start seeing the payment option on the app, where they can set up an account by adding their Visa card to start sending and receiving money.
For small businesses to be able to receive payments from customers, they simply need to create a WhatsApp Business app account.
“We are very excited to bring payments on WhatsApp to our users across Brazil. Making it easier to send and receive money could not be more important than at a time like this,” said Matt Idema, WhatsApp’s Chief Operating Officer.
“Small businesses are the backbone of the country. The ability to easily make sales right within WhatsApp will help business owners adapt to the digital economy, support growth, and financial recovery.”
