WhatsApp mobile payments could launch in Indonesia
Facebook has been looking for a way to replicate WeChat's success with mobile payments, and Southeast Asia might be the key
Facebook’s messaging service WhatsApp is in talks with multiple Indonesian digital payment firms to offer their mobile transaction services, in a bid to tap the nation’s fast growing ecommerce sector, people familiar with the matter said.
Indonesia could become the second country worldwide where WhatsApp introduces such services, as it awaits regulatory approval from India, its biggest market by users, that has been delayed due to local data storage rules.
But unlike in India where it plans to offer direct peer-to-peer payment services, WhatsApp will simply serve as a platform in Indonesia supporting payments via local digital wallets due to tough licensing regulations, the sources told Reuters.
The Indonesia model could become a template for WhatsApp to adopt in other emerging markets to get around regulations on foreign players creating their own digital wallets, the sources said.
Indonesia, home to 260 million people and Southeast Asia’s largest economy, is one of the top-five markets globally for WhatsApp, with over 100 million users.
The nation is set to see its ecommerce industry tripling to US$100 billion by 2025, according to some estimates, but it also has some of the region’s strictest digital payments regulations.