MESSAGING PLATFORM Rakuten Viber plans to launch its digital wallet and payments feature Viber Pay in the Philippines by next quarter.
“We already have a long list of over a million users in the Philippines that have enlisted for the wallet,” Rakuten Viber Chief Executive Officer Ofir Eyal said at a briefing on Tuesday.
The feature will allow users to transfer money within the messaging app, Mr. Eyal said. Initial services include peer-to-peer fund transfers, including user-to-user and user-to-business transactions. It will also allow transfers from banks and electronic wallets like GCash and Maya via InstaPay.
Viber Pay will eventually be expanded to include transactions via debit and credit cards, as well as QR codes, he said.
Rakuten Viber is also planning to launch a group payment feature, Mr. Eyal said, adding it is also open to expanding Viber Pay to include loan products and remittance services.
Viber Pay targets mainly micro, small, and medium enterprises that use the messaging platform to communicate with their customers, the official said.
“Our first aim is to allow the small businesses to start accepting payments in Viber because they’re already talking to their customers on Viber and then completing the purchase somewhere outside,” Ritesh Shah, general manager for FinTech and vice-president for Business Solutions at Rakuten Viber, told reporters at the same briefing.
Viber saw a 194% increase in business accounts opened by small businesses in the Philippines in 2024, the company said.
The Philippines is one of Viber’s leading growth markets, with the platform’s user base in the country growing by about 20% annually, Mr. Eyal added.
For this year, the company plans to expand the messaging app’s advertising features to accommodate full screen ads, video ads, and generative response ads.
For business messaging, Rakuten Viber is set to launch list messages where firms can collect feedback or send delivery details, as well as create a mini catalog through carousel messages.
“All [of our] solutions serve the business in getting the exposure and awareness of new clients, to maintain their relationship with customers, and to boost their sales,” Mr. Shah said.
The platform also recently launched the Viber Dating feature. To provide users a secure experience, only verified Viber users with registered mobile numbers can create a dating profile. — Beatriz Marie D. Cruz
