How to send money with viber
Viber Launches Payments and Enables Payments and Transfers
The messaging app Viber, who is owned by the Japanese tech company Rakuten, is launching “Payments”. The new fintech service enables users to pay for goods and services with a wallet and transfer money directly in the app.
According to McKinsey, the global payments could generate 2.5 trillion US dollars in revenue by 2025—and the messaging app Viber is ready to get a slice of that. Rakuten, the Japanese company who is behind Viber, has now announced that it will launch a new payment service, “Payments on Viber”, first in Europe, then globally.
As TechCrunch reports, the payments services will first launch in Greece and Germany. Other countries throughout Europe will follow, and Viber wants to roll out Payments globally in 2022 and 2023.
What can you do with Viber’s Payments?
Payments on Viber will allow users to set up a wallet in the app. This wallet will be linked to the user’s bank account or credit cards. The wallet can then be used to pay for goods, bills, and also to transfer money to other individuals. All of this will be possible directly in the app.
The peer-to-peer launch will be the first option to start, and will be free of charge. Payments to businesses will most likely include a fee.
Why will Viber Payments first launch in Greece and Germany?
Given that Russia and Ukraine are Viber’s biggest markets, it seems surprising that Rakuten is launching the fintech service in Greece and Germany. However, due to the current unstable political situation, Rakuten decided to focus on other countries first.
In Greece, the Viber messenger app is, in fact, also very popular. It’s installed on 91 percent of the country’s smartphones. This comes out to roughly seven million users (out of a population of 10.7 million). Germany, on the other hand, only counts three million Viber users, as most Germans prefer WhatsApp as a messaging service. However, Viber CEO Ofir Eyal, described Germany as a “strong corridor” for Viber payments to Greece.
Will Payments replace other Viber finance services?
The new Viber Payments are not the first fintech service the app offers its users. In some countries, such as Ukraine or Hungary, users are already able to send money transfers and use chatbot payments in the messaging app. According to the company, these services will remain in place for now, but will eventually be replaced by Payments.
For the new launch, Rakuten has partnered with Rapyd, a fintech-as-a-service company, who will manage the first two launches.
Rakuten’s move into the payment space of messaging app is the latest in a row of messenger services that are looking to monetize the growing usage of messaging apps around the world. WhatsApp, for example, has been working on launching a payment service in Brazil and India, Instagram has just announced a new in-chat payment feature on Instagram Direct, and other messaging services like Telegram or Signal are even rolling out first cryptocurrency payment features.
As customers are moving from social media channels to messaging apps to talk to businesses, many messenger app providers have been adding fintech features. The idea is to offer more convenient in-chat services that can help companies grow their business.
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Compared to its competitors, Rakuten is relatively late to the messaging payment game. However, it could be a way for Viber to make the app more attractive for existing users, and gain new users. Currently, Viber counts about one billion installs globally, and 250 million monthly active users.
In comparison to WhatsApp (two billion monthly active users) or Meta’s Messenger on Facebook (988 million monthly active users), it’s still a long way to go for Viber.
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Rakuten Bank and Viber Launch Money Transfer Service Using Viber from Rakuten Bank App | Media Room
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New service makes it possible to transfer money to Viber contacts without account information
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Tokyo, September 26, 2016 - Rakuten Bank Ltd. and Rakuten Group’s Viber Media S.a.r.l today announced the launch of “Transfer by Viber,” a money transfer service using the Viber mobile messaging app.
With the aim of providing easy and more convenient money transfer service, Rakuten Bank launched “MailMoney,” a service that allows the sender to transfer money without knowing the recipient’s bank, branch, or account number, using the email address and name of the recipient alone in November 2002, followed by “Transfer by Facebook,” a service that enables easy money transfers to anyone on the user’s Facebook friend list, in August 2014.
MailMoney and Transfer by Facebook have been being used by a large number of customers since the services were launched, and Rakuten Bank has now decided to launch the Transfer by Viber service enabling easy money transfers to anyone on the user’s Viber contact list from the Rakuten Bank app. In addition, there are plans to make it possible for users to utilize the service from the Viber app through the via the Rakuten Bank app by the end of the year.
In the Rakuten Group, efforts are being made to strengthen collaboration between Viber and other group companies in order to provide customers with more convenient services, and this latest initiative between Rakuten Bank and Viber is a part of these efforts.
No transfer fees when sending money to a Rakuten Bank account linked to a Viber account
No transfer fees are charged for sending money to those holding a Rakuten Bank account already linked to their Viber account. If the recipient has a Rakuten Bank account that is not yet linked to their Viber account, or the money is being sent to another bank account, there is a fee of 165 yen per transfer.
Money can also be transferred to non-Rakuten Bank account holders
Transfer by Viber also enables money to be sent to those without a Rakuten Bank account. By accessing a URL on Viber with the transfer notice, the recipient is able to specify a bank account for the money, and with that, the deposit procedure is complete.
Attach a message with the transfer
A message (of up to 50 characters) can be sent together with the transfer. Unlike an administrative bank transfer, adding a message is a new communication tool that can be utilized in a range of situations, such as making pre-payments for events, or settling bills when dining or travelling with a friend.
Check transaction history with ease
The transaction history can be easily checked by the sender or recipient.
For more information, please visit the Transfer by Viber site:
https://www.rakuten-bank.co.jp/transfer/viber/
* The Rakuten Bank app can be downloaded for free from App Store and Google Play.
See https://www.rakuten-bank.co.jp/nonpc/index.html for details.
* Viber can be downloaded for free from App Store and Google Play.
See http://www.viber.co.jp/download for details.
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- Google Play is the trademark or registered trademark of Google Inc. in the United States and other countries.
*Please note that the information contained in press releases is current as of the date of release.
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You can now transfer money through Viber, and it can be dangerous
A new service called Moneytou has been launched by Mastercard and Rakuten Viber in partnership with NeoPay and Edenlab.
To transfer money, you do not need to know the recipient's card number. It is enough to be among the contacts in the application or to know the phone number of the addressee, Viber and Mastercard announced on December 3 in a joint press release.
Who will be able to use the service and how much it will cost
As promised by the companies, clients of any Ukrainian banks that have the messenger registered to the phone number of a Ukrainian operator will be able to transfer money to Viber.
Moneytou service integrates Mastercard Send technology and Masterpass digital wallet.
You will have to pay 5 UAH + 1% of the transfer amount for the transfer. The maximum transfer amount was limited to UAH 14.9 thousand.
Ukraine will become the second country in Europe after Hungary where such a service will be available. Next in line are Romania, Serbia and Bulgaria.
What is good about this innovation and what is alarming
According to Karen Chiftalaryan, managing partner of the investment company Standart NV, launching a money transfer service via the Viber messenger is, on the one hand, a good idea. This simplifies settlements between people, this is technology, development.
However, with insufficient control by the relevant government agencies, unjustified transfers can occur.
By and large, nothing new will happen on the Ukrainian market, because online instant transfer services have long existed, for example, Sendmoney from Privatbank, which essentially perform the same function, the expert believes.
“You can't build a Mercedes if you just put a German steering wheel and Zhiguli engine. In order for money transfers in messengers to work as safely as in Asia, a number of measures must be taken by the regulatory authorities,” Chiftalaryan believes.
Anatoly Frolenkov, managing partner of the E&C consulting group, believes that the emergence of a new service is good for the market in any case. But the prospects for the development of money transfers through the Viber application should be treated with restraint. The Ukrainian market for online money transfers is already filled not only with large banks like Privatbank and Monobank, but also with payments through mobile operators, for example, Smart Money from Kyivstar.
They have a large customer base and a serious credibility.
According to Frolenkov, Viber is in a good position due to the significant number of users in Ukraine. But there are certain questions about the security of instant messengers.
How it works in other countries
Money transfer services in local messengers have been successfully operating in Asia for several years now. During the Chinese New Year celebrations, China's popular WeChat mobile platform handled almost twice as many transactions as PayPal did in all of 2015.
And in mid-November, Facebook announced the launch of its own payment system, Facebook Pay, with which you can pay securely via Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp.
Users in the US were able to test the new service on fundraisers, in-game purchases, event tickets, individual payments on Messenger, and purchases on select pages and businesses on the Facebook Marketplace.
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Now you can transfer money via Viber in Ukraine (Moneytou service)
On December 3, Mastercard together with Rakuten Viber introduced instant money transfer service Moneytou for the Viber messenger in Ukraine.
The card-to-card money transfer service is very popular in Ukraine in general.
According to the NBU, in just 9 months of 2019, the amount of such internal (between cards of Ukrainian banks) transfers amounted to UAH 530 billion.
According to Natalia Kangina, head of digital and cyber security products at Mastercard in Ukraine, this is 41% of the total volume of non-cash transactions with payment cards.
The new Moneytou service will allow you to transfer and receive funds directly in the Viber app, even without the need to provide a card number. Among the advantages of Moneytou are simplicity, convenience, speed and security.
Ukraine has become the second (after Hungary) country where this service already operates.
Viber messenger is installed by 94% of smartphone users in Ukraine.
Considering such distribution and popularity of money transfers, representatives of Mastercard and Rakuten Viber see a great prospect for Moneytou in the Ukrainian market.
Money transfer to Viber is available to cardholders of any Ukrainian bank using the Viber messenger registered to the number of a Ukrainian mobile operator.
Accordingly, only "internal" transfers are currently available. But, of course, you can send money to a friend who is abroad without any problems. The return trip is also available. The main thing is that he and you have a payment card of a Ukrainian bank.
Despite the fact that the service is provided in cooperation with Mastercard, you can use any bank cards for transfers, not just Mastercard.
How does it work?
A small step-by-step guide to better understand how the service works…
What do senders need to do to transfer money via Viber using Moneytou?
- In the chat window, press the Gif + button and select the Moneytou service.
- Click "Send transfer" and select the card in the Masterpass digital wallet from which the transfer is made.
