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Source: https://www.digitalmoneyinform.com.br/
By Elias Sfeir
In just one week, the Central Bank has started the Pix Billing and put out for public consultation the proposal to create the Pix Loot and Pix Exchange. More recently, it announced a mechanism that standardizes the rules and procedures for returning amounts in the event of suspected fraud or operational failure in the systems of the institutions involved in the transaction. These are new stages in the consolidation of the instant payment system in the Brazilian market, always with the aim of offering more convenience to users and stimulating competition.
Since the launch of Agenda BC#, the Central Bank has been implementing a series of initiatives, such as Pix, to accelerate the development of the Brazilian financial system. In the credit market, for example, Simple Credit Companies (ESCs) have been created, the new Positive Registry has been consolidated and fintechs have stepped in to conquer their space. At the same time, the first phases of Open Banking, or the open financial system, are being implemented.
And Pix has been a success. Since March, it has accounted for most of the transactions carried out in the country. According to data from the Central Bank, Pix users have so far moved more than R$ 1 trillion. By June, 254.3 million access keys had been registered. Of this total, 243.9 million were registered by individuals and 10.4 million by companies. According to the Central Bank, around 73 million Brazilians have already carried out transactions via Pix, which is equivalent to 46% of Brazil's adult population.
This success was due, on the one hand, to the stance of the Central Bank, which was very strict on the deadlines and conditions for implementing the project. On the other hand, the financial institutions invested heavily in getting people to sign up to Pix because, as well as offering the service to those who were already bank customers, it opened up the possibility of winning new customers among the unbanked.
Encouraging bankarization of Brazilian consumers and many other legal entities without a bank account is one of Pix's highlights. For individuals, it has already shown its strength, but its capacity for financial inclusion of small businesses, currently outside the payment system, remains to be seen.
In fact, this expansion among legal entities depends on an initiative expected for the second half of the year: Pix Garantido, which makes it possible to schedule payments and installments. With this, credit card transactions, such as retail purchases, will be able to be carried out through Pix, which, by making installments possible in the future, will become a form of credit.
With this installment proposal, Pix Garantido should boost the credit assessment and fraud prevention services carried out by the bureaus that manage the Pix Garantido database. Positive registration.
With the use of credit scoring, retailers will be able to evaluate transactions via Pixthe compliance status of consumers and also those outside the financial system. This reduces the credit risk for retailers, while consumers have the opportunity to buy higher value products, such as electronics, household appliances and even airline tickets.
Today, banks are used to working with credit card fraud and traditional means of payment. But Pix is a different modality, a platform with a lot of openness, which will require the bureaus' resources to prevent fraud in transactions.
For the time being, Pix still has little impact on the credit market, but with the installment modality, this will happen in the medium and long term, especially with the adhesion of legal entities, which are still unaware of its benefits. At that point, the ease of Pix and the fluidity it will bring to the market will be evident.
In e-commerce, for example, which today uses credit card e billetwhoever has one QR code generates a Pix, receives it instantly, unlocks the delivery of the product, the supplier and distributor also receive it faster and the whole process is accelerated. This fluidity is a feature of Pix, which makes things run faster.
Around 50 countries already have or are in the process of implementing an instant payments model. The best known are the systems in India and the United Kingdom. The Indian system, because it caters for the immense unbanked portion of the population. The UK system, due to the large volume of transactions that go through it.
In Brazil, due to the speed at which the population is joining and the volume of transactions, the Pix certainly ranks among the most successful in the world, encouraging a new credit channel that will positively impact the economy and provide social welfare.
