Fintech Department Bulletin | Fintech Legal News in Argentina No. 18.
by Daniel Levi
Measures aiming at the implementation of the second phase of instant payments (Transfers 3.0)
Interoperability of QR Codes and interconnection between bank accounts and payment accounts
Considering that next November 29, 2021, the second phase of the system for instant transfers and payments called “Transfers 3.0” must enter into force, the Central Bank of Argentina (BCRA) began in recent weeks to issue certain regulations to prepare its implementation.
Thus, in the first place, by means of Communication “A” 7346 of August 23 (modified by Communication “A” 7362), the BCRA established that, no later than October 22, 2021, all financial entities and payment service providers (PSPs) must enable to the current accounts of human or legal persons, and for payment accounts whose holders are legal persons, QR codes governed by the standards defined by the BCRA that would allow the account holders to receive instant payments.
As it may be recalled, under the Transfer 3.0 regime, the gradual implementation of certain standards was established to allow interoperability in transfers and immediate payments, the first stage of which would be the QR codes. The first guidelines of this standardized payment interface were published by the Interbank Commission for Payment Methods (CIMPRA) in its Bulletin 525 dated November 26, 2020.
On the other hand, on September 10, through Communication “A” 7363, the BCRA ordered that, with effect from next December 1st, financial institutions and PSPs, which provide the service known as “digital wallet” or similar, they must allow the wallet holders to associate their bank accounts and payment accounts of which they are holders or co-holders by using their Uniform Banking Code (CBU) or their Uniform Virtual Code (CVU) or their ALIAS code –indistinctly–, as the case may be. Likewise, the entities and the PSPs must arbitrate all the necessary means to allow the holders of the wallets to make instant payments under the Transfers 3.0 regime from said accounts.
This last rule, of some inspiration in open banking principles, not only reinforces the need for interconnection between bank accounts and payment accounts, but also aims to generate greater competition between the different participants of the ecosystem, by allowing the user of a digital wallet (bank or non-bank) to make payments by initiating the operation from a certain application, but completing the payment from a competitor’s account.
A first concern generated by this new rule is that the BCRA is once again using the concept of “digital wallet or similar”, but it still has not defined its meaning, so the scope of this rule could be confusing. For example, would digital wallets be only applications that aggregate several payment methods or also those that offer only one?
On the other hand, it is also striking that, unlike what happens in other countries that have implemented similar systems, the BCRA has not made any clarification regarding the flow of shared information produced by these interconnections (bank secrecy, data protection personnel, security measures, distribution of responsibilities, etc.).
For the rest, it is speculated that also with these provisions the BCRA intends to gradually eradicate not only the use of cash but also the use of debit cards as a means for immediate payments (which has led to discussions with the main labels). This line of policy has also been seen through the issuance of Communication “A” 7343, through which the BCRA ordered that, effective from August 31, for those who request the opening of savings banks in pesos by digital means, the issuance of an associated debit card must now be “optional”.
The issuance of these regulations takes place amid a somewhat convulsive context, where there have been recent debates between banking associations and the fintech chamber regarding the limits for immediate transfers between bank accounts and payment accounts, as well as after that the President of the BCRA spoke recently for the first time at an event of the fintech chamber and recognized the importance of the sector to boost the financial and payments system.