Sao Paulo and San Francisco - June 15, 2020 – Visa Inc. (NYSE:V) today 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 WhatsApp are made possible by tapping into the capabilities of Visa Direct, Visa’s real-time1; push payments technology, and Visa Cloud Tokenization, Visa’s new cutting-edge security capability that launches today in conjunction with payments on WhatsApp.
“WhatsApp users can now send money to friends and family, as well as pay to businesses. This means small business owners can now accept payments on the app, right alongside the messaging features they already use,” said Fernando Teles, Visa Brazil Country Manager. “We are thrilled to help enable greater functionality on WhatsApp through our Visa Direct and new Cloud Token technologies, to help consumers shop and pay digitally, while providing merchants with greater payment options.”
Thus far, Visa has seen global transactions on Visa Direct grow approximately 70 percent throughout COVID-192. With the addition of payments on WhatsApp, Visa Direct continues to power P2P services with all the major global digital platforms3.
“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 Teles.
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.”
Pioneering Visa Cloud Token to Secure Payments on WhatsApp
As consumers expand their use of devices for online shopping, Visa has enabled a new, cloud-based approach that allows more flexibility across their multiple devices. Visa Cloud Tokens protect and remove sensitive payment information by converting the data to tokens and storing them securely. Grounded in a flexible, standards-based approach, cloud tokens can be enabled across all of a consumer’s devices and are directly integrated with the consumer’s bank.
This will help keep transactions even more secure using device biometrics and real-time threat assessments.
Brazilian consumers are the first in the world to use the new Visa Cloud Token technology to make secure payments on WhatsApp.
“Our consumers in Brazil can send and receive money with confidence, as they rest assured that their payments made on WhatsApp are as secure as any other Visa transaction. It is very exciting to pioneer Visa Cloud Token with payments on WhatsApp in Brazil,” s said Ruben Salazar, Senior Vice President Products and Innovation for Visa Latin America and the Caribbean. “Apps are enabling payments to be made from anywhere, not only phones, but any device that has an internet connection. Visa will continue to innovate and apply our best-in-class security and fraud-fighting features to digital payment technology, as we scale the technology around the region.”
The Cloud Token Framework technology removes operational risks around data protection for merchants and mobile carriers, reduces unnecessary steps and friction for the consumer, and allows Visa to implement the latest industry-leading security efforts that can be applied at both the network and financial institution level.
For Visa, furthering this new generation of real-time money movement between consumers and businesses allows the company to connect the world through the most innovative, reliable and secure payment network – enabling individuals, businesses and economies to thrive.
For more information, visit www.visa.com.
About Visa Inc.
Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) is the world’s leader in digital payments. Our mission is to connect the world through the most innovative, reliable and secure payment network - enabling individuals, businesses and economies to thrive. Our advanced global processing network, VisaNet, provides secure and reliable payments around the world, and is capable of handling more than 65,000 transaction messages a second. The company’s relentless focus on innovation is a catalyst for the rapid growth of digital commerce on any device for everyone, everywhere. As the world moves from analog to digital, Visa is applying our brand, products, people, network and scale to reshape the future of commerce. For more information, visit About Visa, visa.com/blog, @VisaNews.
