The tech company is said to have partnered with Stripe, a digital payment company, to roll out the feature in the region.
WhatsApp has built this payment feature using Stripe Connect and Stripe Checkout solutions, making in-app payments available online and offline, Tech Crunch reports.
Customers will now be able to pay businesses using credit cards, debit cards, or Singapore’s PayNow fund transfer system.
However, Meta stated that the feature is only available to a few businesses at the moment but it plans to expand the availability to more merchants over the coming months.
This feature can be set up by businesses through WhatsApp Business which will guide them on getting a Stripe account too.
The regional head and managing director for Southeast Asia at Stripe, Sarita Singh, said in a statement to Tech Crunch said, “Most people I know in Singapore use WhatsApp to chat with each other. Now, they can pay local businesses using the app as well. The speed and convenience of payments through WhatsApp will help businesses expand their revenue streams with new channels and access a wider customer base.”
The WhatsApp payment was first launched in India based on the country’s Unified Payment Interface network in 2020 in test mode. Last month, it also launched merchant payments in Brazil, after allowing peer-to-peer payments for about three years.
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