Out of nowhere, Whatsapp launched payment features in Brazil. Users in Brazil now can send money through chat by linking-in their bank accounts in Whatsapp. The app currently supporting both debit and credit cards of 2 major banks and 1 neobanks : Banco de Brazil, Sicredi and NuBank. They also partnering with Cielo, largest payment operator in Brazil.

Indonesia is on the pipeline. Earlier this month, Facebook alongside Paypal put money in Gopay, solidifying their intent to enter financial services. Gopay wallet might be able to be synced to Whatsapp numbers sometimes soon. In fact, money transfer feature in Gopay already designed like a chat.

In my opinion, Whatsapp or chat in general could be a better and more inclusive vehicle to deliver digital financial services. Especially for unbanked population, which are half of the country.

In this article, ill write about the downside of app, opportunity of chat, learnings from other markets and potential use cases. Lets start!

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