Brazil Lenders Don’t Lose Money With Pix

Roberto Campos Neto, the head of Brazil’s central bank, stated on Thursday that the claim that banks are losing money because of the late 2020 implementation of the Pix fast payment system is untrue.

Speaking at an event sponsored by Brazil’s banking lobby group Febraban, he conceded that Pix had some impact on profits because, while Pix is free, banks used to charge customers for transfer costs in the past. On the other hand, according to Campos Neto, it provides new services, boosts the number of transactions, and lowers the cost of cash for banks.

The platform, which is controlled by Brazil’s central bank, has received praise from around the world and has enjoyed great success in Brazil. It just surpassed the number of transactions made using credit and debit cards nationwide.

According to Campos Neto, central bankers from other nations have inquired about the implementation of Pix and have stated that their domestic banks will never cooperate.

“In Brazil, they collaborated and that’s why we have Pix. Banks understood that, in the end, it’s a win-win model.”

Recently, Febraban’s support for manifestos protecting democratic institutions came under fire from President Jair Bolsonaro, who said banks were not happy with Pix. Campos Neto stated that he would like to see the Brazilian central bank (CBDC) model for digital currency operational by 2024.

The head of the central bank claims that the Brazilian CBDC will encourage new ventures and permit exchanges of physical and digital currency, encouraging banks to start viewing balance sheets as tokenized balance sheets.

“Our central bank digital currency is nothing more than a tokenized deposit,” he said.