Raynor de Best
Research expert covering finance, insurance & real-estate, internet & e-commerce
Get in touch with us nowDigital payments refer to any form of cashless payment, or payments conducted without banknotes or coins, in an online or offline environment. Such payments can include mobile payments - digital payments performed with a mobile device - but also relatively new trends like buy now, pay later (BNPL), cryptocurrency, or instant (real-time) payments. Out of all these digital options, which developments are noteworthy to know about for Brazil?
Pix, a centralized effort in real-time payments
Pix is arguably Brazil's most discussed digital payment service. Launched in November 2020 by the Central Bank of Brazil to replace the old SITRAF service, Pix is an instant payment app powered by bank transfers. It initially focused on peer-to-peer (P2P) payments but the number of transactions with Pix grew as the system entered B2C and business-to-business markets. The scheme is developed to be versatile so that the system's near-instant transaction speed can be utilized in different domestic payment scenarios. Consequently, Brazil ranked among the top countries in the world in terms of processed real-time payments. Indeed, approximately 34 percent of all payments in the country is forecast to be an instant payment in Brazil come 2026.A boom in financial inclusion
Pix's fast adoption also allowed an increasing number of Brazilians to gain access to financial services for the first time. The system was mandatory to use in Brazil's COVID-19 relief funds, forcing millions of people to migrate to this service. Consequently, Brazil's share of the unbanked population declined significantly. While this was not uncommon in Latin America, the change in Brazil was considerably higher than in other countries in the region. A survey from 2022 suggests that changing costs of living also impacted the use of direct bank transfers such as Pix.
