Brazil’s Central Bank Delays Launch of Pix Recurring Payments Feature

Brazil’s central bank has delayed the launch of a recurring payments feature that will be added to its Pix instant payment system.

The feature, Automatic Pix, now has a launch date of June 16, the Banco Central do Brasil said in a Monday (July 22) note.

The feature was originally scheduled to be launched in October, Reuters reported Monday.

The central bank’s note did not give a reason for the change.

It said Automatic Pix will facilitate recurring charges and will be able to be used as a payment method by companies of different sizes and in different sectors.

“For the paying user, Automatic Pix will bring even more convenience, offering a frictionless recurring payment alternative,” the bank said in its note. “With prior authorization, given in the account’s secure environment by the access device itself (cell phone or computer), the user will allow periodic debits automatically, without the need for authentication for each transaction.”

“For the receiving user, Automatic Pix has the potential to increase efficiency, reduce the costs of collection features and reduce default,” the note added.

Pix is the second most commonly used payment method in Brazil, behind card transactions (credit, debit and prepaid), the bank said in a Friday (July 19) press release.

Card transactions accounted for 41% of all payments in 2023, while Pix accounted for 39%.

“The technological revolution and increasing digitalization have significantly impacted the payments industry,” the bank said in the release.

Pix was launched at the end of 2020 but quickly bloomed in popularity, in large part due to the instant payments platform’s simplicity and ease of use, according to the “Digitizing Payments in Latin America Playbook,” a PYMNTS Intelligence and Kushki collaboration.

Today, Brazilians traveling abroad in neighboring countries like Argentina and Paraguay can use Pix to pay for services like restaurants and hotels — and the instant payments system may be connected, more widely, to other instant payment schemes around the world.

The use of Pix has also been given a boost by the broad range of Brazilian consumers who have adopted digital shopping strategies and who say they value the ability to use their preferred payment method when shopping.