WhatsApp will relaunch its payment service in Brazil after the first launch was quickly halted by Brazil’s Central Bank in 2020, citing the need to establish compliance issues and failure to obtain a license. WhatsApp’s goal of creating the payment service was to expand financial inclusion among users in its second-largest market while also allowing users to make payments within the platform using a Visa or Mastercard credit card. At its launch in 2020, local lenders and international payment solution providers partnered with WhatsApp to produce the payment service. These included Nubank, Sicredi, Banco do Brasil SA, Visa, and Mastercard.

The newly repackaged payment service is coming after WhatsApp, Visa and Mastercard secured separate licenses from Brazil’s Central Bank to offer the specific payment solution to WhatsApp users. WhatsApp remains the primary online presence for millions of small and medium enterprises in Brazil. This revamped model will serve as the first step to achieving seamless digital payments among small businesses in the country.

There were rumors in June 2020 when the WhatsApp payment service was halted, that its presence might impede the growth of the Central Bank’s Pix instant payment service, which was yet to take off at that point. It was scheduled to commence before 2021. In the aftermath of the suspension, WhatsApp said it felt there was no need to obtain an additional banking license, and both Visa and Mastercard already had valid banking licenses from the Central Bank. There were also risks of heavy fines being slapped on both Visa and Mastercard, which could have been part of the reasons for the quick suspension of the service last year.

The relaunched WhatsApp payment service in Brazil holds a lot of promise for small businesses.

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(source)

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Last week, WhatsApp launched its payment service in Brazil but it has been now suspended by the government. Similarly, the instant messaging app introduced animated stickers in a recent beta version but that too got removed in the next version of the application.

WhatsApp Animated Stickers

WhatsApp has been lately adding some interesting features in its app. Recently, the company rolled out WhatsApp Beta v2.20.194.7 for Android. This version of the app brought animated stickers feature, which is found on other messaging services like Telegram.

Unfortunately, it was soon removed in the next beta version of the app – v2.20.194.9. The current implementation is half-baked as per Android Police. This could be the reason why the company got rid of it for the time being in the new version.

Anyway, we hope WhatsApp releases it in the stable channel for everyone in the near future

WhatsApp Payment Service Suspension in Brazil

In other news, the Brazilian Central Bank suspends WhatsApp payment service within days from its rollout in the country. The company launched it in partnership with fintech Nubank, state-controlled lender Banco do Brasil SA, Visa, Mastercard and lender Sicredi.

Reuters reports that WhatsApp launched its payment services in Brazil without requesting authorization from the Central Bank. Hence, Visa and Mastercard had to suspend their operations with the Facebook-owned messaging app.

If they haven’t complied with the order, the world’s two largest financial services company would have been subjected to fines and administrative sanctions. Before the suspension of services, the Central Bank issued a regulation saying “it could require market participants to receive previous approval to operate in payments”.

The Central Bank of Brazil is expected to launch its own instant payment system called Pix in November with more than 980 participants. A WhatsApp spokesperson said they are committed to working with the Central Bank to integrate systems once Pix becomes available.

Additionally, Brazil’s antitrust watchdog, Cade, blocked WhatsApp’s partnership with the country’s largest payment processor Cielo.

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