The Brazilian central bank aims to launch a new payment system to eliminate bank bureaucracy in the banking system. It is reported that the central bank head Roberto Campos Neto has officially rolled out a project called PIX this week. PIX will pave the path for users to carry out transactions through QR codes, 24/7 or through the phone’s contact list. The system is an alternative for credit, cash and debit card transactions, while the fund transfer process is cheaper for both the receiver and the payer.
Affonso Pastore, a former central bank president, told the media, “As you have more institutions operating with this new payment method, if they are geographically well distributed and easier for people to access, you can reach people who are outside of this payment system.”
The new system is likely to replace the large swath of payment options for Brazilians, where each transaction will have its own rules and embedded fees. Brazilians currently use payment methods such as TED (Express Wire Transfer) and DOC (Credit Transfer Document). These methods are costly and require information such as bank number, branch number and other for verification.
The system is important to the Brazilian financial landscape because it also provides bar-coded standardised documents called boletos. Customers can carry out bill transactions through scanning or typing the numbers with the help of boletos. Boletos is cheaper than credit cards and they are a popular means of payments for bills and shopping where settlements occur in two business days.