- Meta Platforms Inc's (NASDAQ: FB) long-awaited ambition of allowing users to send money to businesses via messaging app WhatsApp in Brazil suffered a roadblock with potential payments partners, the Financial Times reports.
- WhatsApp looked to launch a payments-to-merchant (p2m) function in Latin America's most populous country in 2021.
- However, WhatsApp has struggled to win local "merchant acquirers" or companies that process electronic payments needed to launch and run the service.
- Negotiations between Meta and payments groups have stalled as WhatsApp's proposed fees were too low.
- Merchant acquirers also found Meta's terms demanding with legal repercussions.
- Meta is still waiting for the Brazil central bank's approval from its second-largest market, which has its instant payment system, Pix, enabling transfers between transactional accounts.
- WhatsApp's peer-to-peer (p2p) payment efforts in India and Brazil faced regulatory hurdles.
- Facilitating e-commerce and payments would help Meta tap new revenue streams and gather data to increase the value of its existing advertising, CEO Mark Zuckerberg has said.
- Price Action: FB shares traded lower by 0.66% at $215.87 in the premarket on the last check Wednesday.
- Photo by Rachit Tank on Unsplash
