Brazil’s PicPay Begins Offering Instant Payments via Meta and Microsoft

Digital bank PicPay is offering access to Brazil’s Pix instant payment system via WhatsApp.

The new artificial intelligence (AI)-powered offering, announced Monday (Nov. 11), is made possible by PicPay’s partnerships with WhatsApp owner Meta and Microsoft.

“Unlike traditional chatbot assistants, PicPay’s GenAI, developed in-house and powered by Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service, can instantly recognize Pix keys in a variety of contexts, such as complex conversations, audio messages, or even photos and screenshots containing multiple pieces of information,” the company said in a news release provided to PYMNTS.

For example, it can identify a Pix key buried in a restaurant’s price list, and also calculate percentages and split group expenses. Users can send or forward this information to the PicPay Assistant on WhatsApp, and the transaction will be processed in the PicPay app with biometric authentication for additional security.

According to the release, PicPay believes that the combination of a trusted payment method and a widely used messaging tool in Brazil will drive the adoption of a new way to make payments with Pix.

“Brazil is at the forefront of innovation when it comes to business solutions involving WhatsApp and Artificial Intelligence,” said Meta Head of Business Development Sandro Cachiello. “PicPay’s announcement today is a prime example of how we can use technology to transform the payments industry, reshape habits, and simplify everyday transactions.”

As research by PYMNTS Intelligence has shown, Brazil is the world leader in digital transformation, with more than 60% of the population embracing mobile and online banking.

In an interview here last week, Carlos Netto, CEO of Brazilian FinTech Matera, noted that there were more than 5.5 billion Pix transactions just in September, a 41% increase, by Matera’s own estimates, over last year.

There are a few specifics about Brazil that have fueled this rise, including its central bank’s creation of payment institutions, which managed accounts and payment services — leading to inexpensive accounts connected to instant payment rails.

“It’s helped Pix a lot,” said Netto, and provided a tailwind to P2P payments, “as everybody was able to send money to everybody.”

PYMNTS also wrote recently that Brazilians are turning to digital wallets to make payments, with close to half of consumers using this technology to pay bills.

“Surprisingly, it is the country’s baby boomers and seniors who are the most active digital wallet users when paying bills — and for online shopping,” that report said. “In fact, 31% of baby boomers in Brazil paid for an online purchase using one of these wallets. In contrast, just 20% of Generation Z and 25% of millennial consumers in Brazil did the same.”