• Brazilian bank Banco do Brazil launches feature to allow PIX payments via WhatsApp chat;
• The institution provides a mobile number for users to add on WhatsApp and, by starting the chat, a virtual assistant offers the available options: paying, receiving, registering PIX keys, or scanning a QR Code.

Banco do Brasil is the first bank to launch a feature that allows the use of PIX, Brazil’s instant payment system, through Facebook-owned WhatsApp.

By simply adding Banco do Brasil’s number to contacts, users can chat through the messaging app, typing the term “PIX”. Next, the virtual assistant will offer the available options, such as paying, receiving, registering PIX keys, or scanning a QR Code. Voice messages like enviar PIX (send PIX, in Brazilian Portuguese) are also available through the new feature.

READ ALSO: WhatsApp to provide peer-to-peer payments services in Brazil soon: central bank chief

Two-thirds of Brazilian WhatsApp users would like to use the messaging app to make payments, revealed a survey conducted by Mobile Time and Opinion Box, released in September.

Last June, WhatsApp announced the launch of a payments service in Brazil – in partnership with Cielo, Visa, Mastercard, Banco do Brasil, Nubank and Sicredi. However, the initiative was temporarily suspended by the Central Bank.