WhatsApp Remittance and Money Transfer
It was a very short comment I had put under the feed on Instagram post: “The main one is coming - money transfer!” under this comment “Prof if I remember correctly, not too long ago you projected this was going to happen right?” by a commenter on LinkedIn.
Yes, I do believe that before 2022 Facebook Corp will enable integration of Facebook/WhatsApp/Instagram with bank account. That way you can send money to people right in your Facebook Corp ecosystem. They may not launch such solutions in U.S. and Europe because these areas do not have such needs [Google has been experimenting with payments in India but none of the solutions are trialed in U.S.].
I believe that remittance will converge on Facebook Corp platforms where what we do on Paypal will be done at global scale. For Facebook Corp, all it needs is to link Facebook profile with bank accounts and just like that we have remittance done! The stronger data privacy will even help Facebook as the platforms will become more trusted platforms. Without a strong advertising business, I expect WhatsApp to evolve into a remittance/payment platform in Africa [consider WeChat in China].
Tekedia Mini-MBA edition 16 (Feb 10 – May 3, 2025) opens registrations; register today for early bird discounts.
Tekedia AI in Business Masterclass opens registrations here.
Join Tekedia Capital Syndicate and invest in Africa’s finest startups here.
Note: As I was about looking for a picture after writing this, I noticed that WhatsApp has payment integration already in India. Yes, WhatsApp has a full money transfer service in India.
WhatsApp will launch a “full feature” inter-bank money transfer service in India, its biggest market, after a test involving a million users, National Payments Corp of India said.
Friday’s statement marks the de facto official launch of WhatsApp’s new service as NPCI is the body set up by the central bank and lenders to oversee payment services.