- Beginning on November 9, the Brazilian Central Bank will allow institutions to enable PIX for 100% of their customers;
- Currently, there are 60.4 million keys registered by consumers willing to use PIX.
On Tuesday the Brazilian Central Bank started the testing phase of PIX, Brazil’s instant payments system, and counted, until 5 pm, 1,570 transactions. On the first day of restricted operation – in which banks and fintechs enabled the new service for up to 5% of their customers – some institutions suffered technical difficulties, informed the Brazilian Central Bank during a virtual press conference.
“Some institutions had instability in the systems, they were not able to operate immediately, problems that were already expected by the technical teams. Throughout the day it was observed that several of these problems were solved by the institutions,” said the head of the Department of Competition and Structure of the Central Bank Financial Market, Angelo Duarte.
READ ALSO: PIX’s testing phase begins on Tuesday with 5% of bank customers
According to the Central Bank, the testing period was created so that institutions can identify any problem and make corrections. Although the financial authority’s guideline is for 1% to 5% of bank institutions’ customers to be able to make PIX transactions during the trials, some institutions have decided to start the restricted operation with less than 1% of their eligible customers.
Beginning on November 9, the Brazilian Central Bank will allow institutions to enable PIX for 100% of their customers, and as of the 16th, when PIX officially goes into operation, all Brazilians with accounts at institutions registered within PIX will be able to use the service.
On this first day of the restricted phase – which ends on the 15th – the Central Bank recorded BRL 141,300 in transactions settled until late afternoon. Customers chosen by financial institutions to test PIX can do so from 9 am to 10 pm. On the two Thursdays of the testing phase (5th and 12th), it will be allowed to make PIX transactions from 9 am until the following Friday at 10 pm.
READ ALSO: Brazilian e-commerce will never be the same after PIX
Over 60 million keys registered
The deputy head of the Central Bank’s Competition and Financial Market Structure Department, Carlos Eduardo Brandt, stressed that the 10-second time limit set for a PIX transaction is a condition for 99% of cases, but that 50% of transactions are up to six seconds. “It is expected that some transactions will take longer than the normal level of service, in the first days these criteria are relativized precisely because of the special characteristic,” he said.
According to the Head of the Information Technology Department in Brazilian Central Bank, Harold Jayme Martins Froes Cruz, the largest transaction registered today at PIX was BRL 35,000. This Tuesday, the Central Bank added 2.24 million new consumer’s keys for PIX.
Currently, there are 60.4 million keys registered on PIX: there are more than 25 million Brazilians with a registered key, and more than 1 million companies registered with a PIX key.
“The key is an identifier and has more dynamic proximity of use by individuals than companies. A company can have hundreds of points of sale, a company registered with its ID number (called CNPJ in Brazil) has a greater capillarity than that of an individual,” explains Duarte. He adds that among those 25 million people, there are those who use their personal accounts for business activities.
According to Duarte, the choice of customers who will be able to use the PIX during the trials is up to the financial institution to decide, which they can do so following strategic measures like geographic and age profile regarding their universe of customers. Institutions can increase the percentage of customers able to take the PIX gradually during the restricted phase, that is: those who are not able can still be until the 15th, and will definitely be on the 16th.
“The Central Bank system has been in operation at all times and has worked perfectly throughout the day. This gives us certainty that the ecosystem is prepared to continue the period of operation,” concluded Duarte.
