Brazil Poised to Approve WhatsApp Pay, Central Bank Head Says

Brazil’s central bank chief says Facebook-owned WhatsApp will have its payment feature accepted during a normal regulatory process, as concerns about competition and data protection are mitigated.

“It will be approved,” bank chief Roberto Campos Neto told Bloomberg’s Erik Schatzker at the Emerging + Frontier Forum on Wednesday. The company is seeking to have its partnership with Mastercard and Cielo green-lighted, even as the central bank discusses alternatives with other players.

After the announcement of WhatsApp Pay in June, Brazil’s central bank deemed Facebook’s proposal too big to be fast-tracked. “It was a big arrangement, with more than 100 ...