WhatsApp introduces payment feature to users in Singapore

With 4.56 million users in Singapore, Meta knows it is the right place to offer its payment feature. Stephane Kasriel, Head of Commerce and Financial Technologies at Meta, shared the news this week, saying Singapore-based users can now use WhatsApp’s payment feature to “pay local businesses for goods and services seamlessly and securely.”

Aside from serving as a conventional chat app, Meta wants to expand the capability of its WhatsApp service as a payment app in Singapore. According to the company, this is made possible through a partnership with Stripe.

Specifically, Meta will be employing Stripe Connect and Stripe Checkout solutions for this feature to allow online and offline payment. Customers can use their credit cards, debit cards, or the Singapore PayNow system. Businesses, meanwhile, will have to activate this feature using WhatsApp Business. However, it is important to note that the feature is still limited to a number of businesses. Yet, Meta stressed the intention to expand its offering to more in the future.

Singapore is not the first country to benefit from the payment service within WhatsApp. Meta first tested it in India in 2020 and later expanded it to more users last year. Last month, the Facebook parent company announced bringing the payment capability to users in Brazil, which also allows customers to pay a “small number of businesses” for their goods and services.

Meta also introduced this capability to Facebook years ago, and the company continues to find new ways to make the feature more convenient among users. For instance, Facebook received the ability to instantly make a payment using a slash shortcut in Messenger for iOS and Android users in the US last year. This payment feature in Messenger continues to work in certain locations, but it seems Meta has plans to expand this offering through its other apps like WhatsApp.