On Tuesday, Facebook’s WhatsApp messaging service relaunched its money transfer services between people in Brazil. Earlier it was blocked by the central bank nearly for 1 year, stated by the CEO Mark Zuckerberg in the latest video.
Besides India with 400 million users, Brazil is the second-largest country where the messaging launched money transfers, and got approval to commence financial service in November.
The user can use debit or pre-paid card numbers, with which users in Brazil can send money up to 5,000 reais per month via messaging service free of charge. Initially, the system will not allow each transaction to exceed 1,000 reais or more than 20 transfers per day.
But now the services are up with new features, said the Chief Operating Officer Matthew Idema in an interview. By today, a limited and undisclosed number of users will get a payment tool in their WhatsApp. With this, they will be allowed to invite new users seamlessly.
In June, it had propelled its payment services in Brazil, but the central bank suspended it some days later alleging it could damage the nation’s existing payment systems and getaways. The authorities took such a decision due to the major concern over efficiency, competition, and data privacy.
Moreover, to analyze the whole scenario properly and to review the proposed payments network, the monetary authority also requested the company to be labeled as financial services in Brazil, prompting Facebook to develop a new unit called Facebook Pagamentos do Brasil, which is now regulated by the central bank.
But even after this, the authorities didn’t get satisfied fully with the merchant transfer and adding a new line of revenue for WhatsApp. In 2020, it totaled 2 trillion reais ($368.12 billion), up to 8.2% from 2019.
Hence, to solve and find a solution, Idema still in constant discussions with the bank and expects to launch its money transfer services by this year.
