Payment Market vs. BCRA: the rules for virtual wallets that generated controversy will be reviewed

The statement of BCRA points out that it “requested the Interbank Payment Methods Commission of the Argentine Republic to analyze the best practices for routing bank accounts with virtual wallets.”, in order to achieve the objectives of improving the user experience and providing the system with better security standards.” Thus, he avoided the need to stop the regulations in question, but accepted a new review of the issue.

Likewise, it requested that it analyze the benefits of advancing the interoperability of QR codes to pay with credit cards, “in order to make it easier for customers to make payments with any digital wallet, regardless of the brand of the QR” (another point of conflict to which Mercado Pago raised objections).

Payment Market vs. BCRA by Debin

But, back to the initial fight, it is worth mentioning that the dispute began on September 14, when, through Communication “A” 7841, the Central established that December 1 of this year would be the deadline for the replacement of the Immediate Debit mechanism (Debin) for pull transfers as a tool to fund accounts.

He Debin is an online transfer in which whoever collects initiates the process and whoever pays only has to accept it. Meanwhile, the Immediate “pull” transfers are requests or requests for funds that allow, prior authorization from the owner of the money, the immediate crediting of the scheduled amount to the requester’s account..

Although the change from one medium to another was a process that had been underway since last August 7 for users of bank wallets and payment service providers (with the implementation of pull transfers), the trigger was the deadline set by the regulator about fifteen days ago.

Mercado Pago came out to respond that this decision affected more than 4 million people and? This measure made the transfer of money from one bank account (CBU) to another in a virtual wallet (CVU) more complex.. They highlighted that DEBIN began to be used to deposit money into the wallet almost three years ago and is the funding channel most valued by people. for its “simplicity and security”.

The BCRA responded that this decision had been made in consensus with the fintech sector and that it aimed to take a step towards the organization of the payment system, given that the DEBIN was not created to fund accounts.

They assure that it aims to guarantee the security of the user and given that there have been many scams with the use of DEBIN and that this is related to the fact that these types of transfers were created for other purposes, not for account funding.

Galperin’s anger and what he does in Brazil

The owner of Mercado Pago reacted negatively to that statement. “They are not going to be able to break it,” an angry Galperin wrote on his networks, who does not waste an opportunity to argue with the BCRA. In fact, in the Government some officials believe that the businessman demonizes the monetary regulator because it is functional to the opposition candidate Javier Milei, who threatens to destroy the monetary regulator if he wins as president.

Likewise, an element that draws attention is that A 2022 report on the evolution of open finance and payment technologies in Brazil reveals that Mercado Pago does use the pull transfer mechanism to fund accounts in the neighboring country.. The report explains that this type of operations “allows the 38 million Mercado Livre users to bring money from other institutions through Open Finance.” So it is strange that they resist adopting it in Argentina, alleging, to this end, technical difficulties and that the system is not very user-friendly.

Massa agreed with Marcos Galperin

But, beyond any suspicion, what surprised the regulatory authorities was the video that Massa broadcast through his social network account Galperin for considering that it harmed businesses and consumers. ““I want to inform you that I asked for the repeal of that rule.”he claimed.

Much was said after that. Since Miguel Pesce, president of the BCRA, could resign until the minister sought a rapprochement with Galperin to obtain campaign financing.

BCRA accepted a new instance of evaluation of the norm

The specific thing is that this Thursday, after the board meeting, The BCRA did not announce any reversal with the aforementioned rule. They did not acknowledge receipt of any formal request from Massa, beyond the video. However, he decided to return the ball to the field where CIMPRA plays. to analyze proposals and evaluate the best practices to resolve this conflict of DEBIN vs. Pull and also the interoperability of QR codes for card payments.

CIMPRA is an organization that the BCRA also integrates, since it is the forum in which the different actors of the National Payment System plan and monitor the evolution of payment methods. They are part of the banking chambers and the Fintech chamber (sector to which Mercado Pago belongs).

It was in that instance where it had been agreed to move forward with the regulations, now questioned. The case is opened again to propose changes that satisfy everyone, or even the majority, and, above all, Mercado Pagowhich is the leading virtual wallet player today.