BCRA Launches Three instruments to Boost Electronic Means of Payment

Today, the BCRA adopts a number of measures to the benefit of financial consumers and to remove frictions in the ecosystem of electronic means of payment. They are concerned with:

· Interoperable QR codes for credit card payments.

· New instant pull transfers for funding accounts held by the same customer.

· New electronic time deposits.

The BCRA stands out as the leader in the digital transformation of means of payment by endowing the ecosystem with greater speed, security and transparency, and enhancing the experience for stores and consumers as well. The BCRA's measures—aligned with international practices—seek to build an open, competitive and interoperable digital payments ecosystem that promotes greater financial inclusion and streamlines the experience of more than 36 million financial consumers.

The BCRA has been strongly promoting electronic means of payment and has been working together with all the players of the system in the design and development of different instruments and facilities, allowing our country to record exponential growth in the use of digital payments, mainly supported by the architecture of payments by transfer. Thus, it has become one of the leaders in the region and is at the forefront of the implementation of instruments that discourage the use of cash.

These instruments are launched today and will be gradually implemented until all processes are operational. The BCRA has the support of all the players of the ecosystem of electronic means of payment, being committed to making this innovative process a success.

Interoperable QR Codes for Credit Card Payments

Interoperable QR codes for credit card payments take a step further towards fully interoperable e-wallet payments, a process that was initiated and encouraged by the BCRA with payments by transfer. Stores displaying a QR code to charge their customers' credit card must accept payments from any e-wallet (supplied by either a bank or a payment service provider), regardless of the QR code brand. This represents an important improvement in the payment experience for stores and consumers.

Acquirers and aggregators offering the service may not draw a distinction between stores in terms of fees charged or terms set for crediting funds depending on the e-wallet brand ordering the payment.

In the same sense, acquirers or aggregators that also act as payments by transfer acquirers must offer stores a single QR code for all payment instruments.

Pull Transfers

Instant transfers amount to 455 million per month, being one of the most widely used means of payment in the system. The BCRA is taking an important step in improving the security and experience of consumers by giving the originator the chance to give implied consent. Moreover, the originator´s express consent will be essential to the future of financial innovation and open finance in Argentina.

Pull transfers involve a request for funds to debit the sight or payment account of the user receiving the request and, after being authorized or consented, immediately credit funds to the requesting user’s account. In these transfers, funds are moved directly from one account to another without going through third parties, free of charge for financial consumers. In the first stage, pull transfers can only be made between accounts of the same holder.

Therefore, recurring instant debits (DEBINs)—created and implemented to provide an online automatic debit service—will no longer be used for funding accounts held by the same person.

Electronic Time Deposits

The new electronic certificate for term deposits and investments (certificado electrónico para depósitos e inversiones a plazo, CEDIP) will provide users with more alternatives and greater flexibility, where they make term deposits or investments though financial institution’s electronic channels.

Financial institutions may offer CEDIPs to their customers, which may be used as a means of payment and may be traded in the secondary market to obtain liquidity. At the beginning, only companies will have access to CEDIPs. In a second stage, they will be available to the public.

Financial institutions, even those that have not issued CEDIPs for customers, will allow them to accept CEDIPs from natural or legal persons, collect them at maturity, and transfer them if their customers so require.

CEDIPs are fully digital instruments that are completely traceable because every transfer is recorded and dated. The measures adopted by the BCRA to prevent fraud in financial transactions make CEDIPs a secure instrument.

The features of this new instrument are the following:

- CEDIPs may be transferred before maturity for discharging an obligation—between companies or individuals—, for negotiation in the stock market to obtain liquidity and/or for primary offering by the issuing financial institution.

- CEDIPs may be divided into smaller amounts so that one portion may be transferred, the residual amount remaining under the original conditions.

- Even if a CEDIP is not transferred, an account in a financial institution other than the one from which the CEDIP was issued may be reported as the collection account.

April 30, 2024