Brazil’s Bolsonaro Takes Credit for Pix Payment System Amid Election

Brazil’s Pix instant payment system has become a central issue in that country’s upcoming presidential election.

President Jair Bolsonaro is using the system — launched by Brazil’s central bank two years ago — to promote a positive agenda before voters head to the polls in October, Bloomber reported Friday (Sept. 2).

“Let’s talk about Pix,” he said in an ad running on social media. It shows Bolsonaro along with footage of people making payments via the Pix mobile app and features a woman who calls the platform the best thing the incumbent did for Brazil.

Pix was launched 20 months into Bolsonaro’s first year in office and was the fruit of a “long evolutionary process,” a spokesperson for the bank told Bloomberg.

The report also noted that it’s not Pix’s first appearance during this campaign. After several banking executives wrote a letter dismissing claims of potential voter fraud by Bolsaonaro, the president’s team replied by saying the bankers were mad their institutions had lost billions in fees due to Pix.

And although Bolsonaro’s marketing team said it will keep promoting Pix, the central bank’s union said the president should get no credit for the system, arguing that he had dismissed the system before the campaign launched.

Last month, the head of Brazil’s central bank said he thinks the country’s open finance system will soon usher in the end of credit card use.

Read more: Brazil’s Central Bank Head Says Pix Instant Payments Will Replace Credit Cards

In a speech at a cryptocurrency event, Roberto Campos Neto said that through open finance, which Brazil’s central bank has implemented since 2021, consumers will control all aspects of their financial life in one place on their mobile phones.

This, in turn, will lead to the creation of products that will let people choose to make payments with Pix, which is already used more often than credit and debit cards in the country.