Yesterday (30/04), at the end of the day, the central bank (BC) released officially bank transfers via WhatsApp. Earlier that same day, the president of the Central Bank, Roberto Campos Neto, had announced that the agency was already moving in this direction. The authorization allows the messaging app to be used to make payments and transfer funds between its users, whether individuals or companies, using Visa and Mastercard.

Facebook Pagamentos do Brasil Ltda was approved to operate as a payment institution in the “Payment Transaction Initiator” modality. In fact, the existence of a payment initiator eliminates the need for intermediaries in a financial transaction. In addition, it allows you to pay for purchases without having to use a credit card. Transactions occur immediately, just like in Pix.

With this, WhatsApp was approved by the BC in Open Banking, an open financial system with rules that enable and allow the sharing of customer information and services between financial institutions from different platforms. In other words, these functions and resources are not limited to bank applications or websites.

Visa and Mastercard

Visa do Brasil Empreendimentos Ltda and Mastercard Brasil Payment Solutions Ltda received authorization from two payment arrangements. Transfer (or deposit) and prepaid operations, only within national territory.

With WhatsApp also being part of the arrangement, such financial transactions can be carried out via the messaging app between customer accounts at the financial institutions where they are account holders. The credentials to be used in the app must consist of the number of the debit or prepaid card under the Visa or Mastercard brands.

Transfers and prepaid accounts will be available as soon as WhatsApp releases the feature. The Facebook-owned app itself will be responsible for defining the transaction fees to be applied. In its official statement, the Central Bank states that it believes that “the authorizations granted may open up new perspectives for cost reduction for users of payment services.” The official statement also states that the current authorizations “do not include the requests from Visa and Mastercard for the operation of purchasing arrangements linked to the Facebook Pay Program, which are still under analysis by the Central Bank.”

Sharing data with Facebook

In May, the controversial WhatsApp update will take place, which will share data from its users with Facebook. The update specifically affects conversations between business accounts and consumers, including payments made through the messaging app. It will be necessary to monitor the scenario in light of this release made by the Central Bank and how the database of Mark Zuckerberg's network will be fed.

With another method facilitating financial transactions, it is possible to envision WhatsApp being used for various payments, which increases the need for users to be vigilant against scams, fraud and the like. Another curiosity is to monitor the level of use of the app for money transfers. Recently, we publish a survey that pointed to a drop in people's interest in using WhatsApp for purposes of this nature.

Through which channels you reach those people, classic and out of the box. Agency Brazil e InfoMoney

Image: Alfredo Rivera/Pixabay/CC