LatamList – Brazil’s Central Bank suspended Facebook’s WhatsApp payment feature in the country, just over a week after Facebook launched the scheme. Brazil is WhatsApp’s second largest market after India, where a beta version of the service launched in 2018.
The bank took the decision to suspend the service while it assessed the risks to the country’s payments infrastructure. Facebook has struggled to gain regulatory approval for the service and this has prevented rollout in other countries.
The WhatsApp Business app is often the main online presence for many SMEs in WhatsApp’s larger markets. The WhatsApp payments service aims to facilitate business payments as well as sending money between individuals.
“Our goal is to provide digital payments to all WhatsApp users in Brazil using an open model and we will continue to work with local partners and the Central Bank to make this possible,” WhatsApp commented.
Read more on The Verge.
