Mastercard Cardholders Can Now Transfer Money via WhatsApp in Brazil

Mastercard, a global technology company in the payments industry, recently announced that Mastercard cardholders in Brazil can quickly, conveniently, and securely send and receive money to and from friends and family via WhatsApp. 

Especially, Mastercard debit cardholders with cards issued by Banco Inter, Itaú, Nubank and Sicredi will be able to use the innovative P2P WhatsApp service. 

According to the official press release, the payments service on WhatsApp is powered by Facebook Pay and processed by Facebook Pagamentos and Cielo. It utilises Mastercard Send™ to enable real-time payments for millions of WhatsApp users in Brazil. Mastercard Send platform enables people and organizations to send and receive money how, where and when they choose, across both card and real-time payments rails, providing increased choice, access and financial control.

Every payment made on WhatsApp is protected by multiple layers of security. Mastercard tokenization solutions leverage the bank authentication to ensure the WhatsApp user is the card owner. Tokenization protects the cardholder's information by replacing the original 16-digit card number with a unique alternative number, or ‘token’, which is associated with the individual debit card number for each WhatsApp user and will not work elsewhere. Consumers create the token, then enter their Facebook Pay security PIN or device biometrics whenever they want to make a transaction.

WhatsApp users in Brazil will now be able to transfer money by registering their debit card in this app, minimizing the risks and inefficiencies associated with other payment methods, including cash.