The national payment system facilitates the circulation of money. It includes all means of payment and their operational and commercial rules, financial market infrastructures and the participants in the provision of payment services. Its structure enables retail and wholesale payments.
Retail payments are debit and credit transactions, whether high- or low-value, carried out by individuals and companies. They can be made using payment instruments such as transfers, cards, direct debits, instant debits, checks, and ATM withdrawals.
Transactions between financial institutions and between financial institutions and the BCRA are not considered retail payments. This type of transactions are classified as wholesale payments.
Wholesale payments are made through the Electronic Means of Payment (Medio Electrónico de Pagos, MEP) administered by the BCRA. The MEP channels interbank market transactions and monetary policy operations.
MEP participants include:
- – Banks
- – Finance companies
- – Low-value and high-value automated clearing houses
- – Other bodies, such as Caja de Valores SA, Bolsas y Mercados SA, A3 Mercados SA, Argentina Clearing y Registro SA, and the Argentine Social Security Administration
- – Settlement and clearing agents (agentes de liquidación y control, ALYCs)
Financial institutions and certain bodies hold current accounts with the MEP to carry out transactions with participants in the system. Halfway through the operating cycle, the MEP settles net balances of automated clearing houses.
Automated clearing houses process retail payments made through checks, direct debits, transfers, certificates of deposit, money orders, electronic credit invoices and instant debits, among other instruments. They also settle the balances of ATM networks, as well as purchase and credit cards.
Payment service providers that offer payment accounts (proveedores de servicios de pago que ofrecen cuentas de pago, PSPCPs) participate in the low-value clearing house (CEC-BV) through financial institutions. Payment accounts allow natural and legal persons to have freely available funds at non-banking companies registered with the BCRA and subject to the regulations on payment service providers. In this way, people can receive and make transfers easily. They can also make payments by transfer via QR codes if their PSPCP provides the interoperable e-wallet service.
In the oversight of the financial infrastructure, the BCRA applies the safety and efficiency requirements set out by the “Principles for Financial Market Infrastructures” of the Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures (CPMI) and the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) for systemically important payment systems under its purview:
- – MEP
- – High-value automated clearing house (cámara electrónica de compensación de alto valor, CEC-AV)
- – Low-value automated clearing house (cámara electrónica de compensación de bajo valor, CEC-BV)
- – ATM networks
- – Center for Registration and Settlement of Public Debt Instruments, Monetary Policy Instruments, and Financial Trusts
- – Caja de Valores SA (CVSA)
- – Argentina Clearing y Registro SA (ACyRSA)
- – Mercado Argentino de Valores SA (MAV)
Each infrastructure assesses the level of compliance with the requirements once every two years, or sooner if the BCRA deems it appropriate. Based on self-assessments, the BCRA makes its own assessment of the areas to improve and increase the safety and efficiency of the financial system.