Just a week after the WhatsApp payment service was launched in Brazil which happens to be the second largest market for the service, it has been suspended by their Central Bank.
According to the Brazil Central Bank, the decision was taken to preserve an adequate competitive environment in the mobile payments space and to ensure the functioning of a payment system that is interchangeable, fest, secure, transparent and cheap.
At the same time, Banks in the nation have asked Mastercard and Visa, who are among the payments partners for WhatsApp in Brazil, to suspend money transfer on WhatsApp app. Failure to comply with the order would subject the payments companies to fines and administrative sanctions.
Facebook is also yet to get regulatory approval in for WhatsApp Pay in India where it begun testing the payment service two years ago. Other than India, WhatsApp has also been testing Pay in Mexico.
The Brazil Central Bank is also working on its own mobile payments service dubbed “PIX” for which it has secured partnerships with nearly 1,000 industry players. The service is planned to be launched in November this year and could have been part of the reason why the WhatsApp Pay was suspended.