WhatsApp launches feature to pay businesses within chat in Singapore

SAN FRANCISCO: After launching the ability to pay businesses within a chat in India and Brazil, Meta-owned WhatsApp is now launching the service to users in Singapore.

Stephane Kasriel, head of Commerce and Financial Technologies at Meta, on Tuesday, announced this on Twitter. "@WhatsApp Singapore users can now pay local businesses for goods and services seamlessly and securely right within a WhatsApp chat".

According to TechCrunch, Meta has partnered with Irish-American financial services and SaaS company Stripe to roll out the feature in the region.

WhatsApp created this payment feature with Stripe Connect and Stripe Checkout solutions, allowing in-app payments to be made both online and offline.

Customers can pay businesses with credit cards, debit cards, or the PayNow fund transfer system in Singapore, the report 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," Sarita Singh, regional head and managing director for Southeast Asia at Stripe, was quoted as saying.

According to Meta, the feature to accept payments through WhatsApp is available only to a few businesses at the moment, but the company plans to expand the availability to more merchants over the coming months, as per the report.

Meanwhile, WhatsApp has announced that users will now be able to use the same WhatsApp account on more than one phone via its multi-device login feature.

Users can now link their phone as one of up to four additional devices.