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Brazil's Pix payment system faces pressure from Visa and Mastercard

elciudadano.com

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Re: Brazil's Pix payment system faces pressure from Visa and Mastercard

#71

Post by airstrike »

I've been living abroad for over a decade now, so I never got to experience Pix.

I went back to Brazil a few years ago for a couple of weeks, and a kid on the streets asked me if I could buy some chewing gum and help him out. I wanted to, but I had no cash, so I told him I had no cash at all.

He said "It's fine, just send me some with Pix".

I still remember the incredulous look on his face when I told him I also didn't have Pix. He was certain I was lying. "_Everyone_ has it. How come you don't?"

Re: Brazil's Pix payment system faces pressure from Visa and Mastercard

#72

Post by airstrike »

ExpertAdvisor01 wrote: post #9
jacknews wrote: post #3

Every country should have this. Why would you let America take 2-3% of your transaction volumes? It perhaps made sense when the technology was difficult, and America was trusted, but ...

It's interesting that we live in 2026 and people still don't understand the fees of credit card processing. Visa charges only a Assessment fee the majority goes to Issuer Bank +PSP. E.g: Interchange fee (0.8-1.8%): Paid by acquirer to issuer (card-holding bank) Assessment fee (0.1-0.3%): Paid to card network (Visa, Mastercard) Acquirer margin (0.3-0.8%): Retained by merchant’s payment processor

Any percentage based fee for processing a transaction is borderline criminal.

Re: Brazil's Pix payment system faces pressure from Visa and Mastercard

#75

Post by protocolture »

jnettome wrote: post #25

How difficult is for USA administration learn good practices and initiatives and think into implementing those? And also, why Master and Visa haven’t came with a solution where they integrate with all of that and innovate? This idea that all they do should be de facto standard for the whole world is so démodé.

>And also, why Master and Visa haven’t came with a solution where they integrate with all of that and innovate?

There are a lot of people who integrate with them. The issue is that anyone who does so must comply with the PCIDSS. Most hobbyists cant stretch that far and use intermediaries.

>This idea that all they do should be de facto standard for the whole world is so démodé.

I dont know what Brazil's issues were, but Visa and Mastercard show up, they integrate with terminal providers directly and indirectly, and they bring a battle tested data security standard with them. Compared to other industries they are basically self regulating, and in some countries they adopt the PCI DSS into law.

Re: Brazil's Pix payment system faces pressure from Visa and Mastercard

#76

Post by amarant »

protastus wrote: post #41
jszymborski wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Would you say that Pix is comparable to Canada's Interac Debit?

Speaking as a non-expert, I think Pix has much bigger scope. Pix is account-to-account. One can buy real estate, pay bills, make person-to-person and business-to-business transactions, government payments, recurring payments. The funds also settle instantly. Most people don't experience the full scope of Pix which is impressive.

Sounds like pix is very similar to the Swedish swish. Phone numbers are used for identity, payments are instant, businesses often have qr codes with their identity etc..

It's like WhatsApp but with money!

Re: Brazil's Pix payment system faces pressure from Visa and Mastercard

#77

Post by Nathanba »

laurencerowe wrote: post #59
pimeys wrote: post #32

In EU we have multiple national systems, but now they are trying to unify them to the IBAN system, so you can pay in the same way by opening your bank app and scanning a QR code: https://wero-wallet.eu/ My bank (N26) should support this later this year. I hope it becomes as big and successful as Pix.

Wero sounds similar to the US Zelle system but the big reason for that to exist in the first place is that bank account numbers are not safe to share in the US since they can be used to pull payments so there was never an option for easily transferring money to friends and family other than writing a cheque. In the UK and Europe I could just share my bank account number or IBAN and make payments through online bankin…

Sharing banking information is not safe in Europe, decades ago a phone scammer convinced me to give them my information and they were able to pull money from my account without any permission from me whatsoever, they just acted like I already signed up to their scam service when I never did. That was a completely foreign and insane idea to me (and it is still insane and should not be allowed) that someone can simply withdraw money from my account. They sent me some contract in the mail that I had to apparently reject and otherwise it was automatically approved. Which itself is surely also not legal but the point is that they were able to take money from my account just with my information.

Re: Brazil's Pix payment system faces pressure from Visa and Mastercard

#78

Post by orochimaaru »

dbolgheroni wrote: post #15

People underestimate how difficult it was to transfer money before Pix, even between local banks. The process was hard to use, it could take days and the fees were huge, depending on your bank. Pix solved all these problems. What happens also is that many sellers provide discounts when using Pix, because you dodge the expensive fees charged not only by Visa and MasterCard, but the fees operators (banks, fintechs) cha…

Is this similar to India's UPI? Visa and MasterCard exist (and grumble from time to time) but aren't needed.

Re: Brazil's Pix payment system faces pressure from Visa and Mastercard

#79

Post by yangm97 »

mikeweiss wrote: post #53

When ever I visit Brazil now I feel very left out for not having Pix! I wanna join the electronic cash club. Don't think it's possible for foreigners tho

It should be possible, they issue CPF numbers even for tourists if you want.

Re: Brazil's Pix payment system faces pressure from Visa and Mastercard

#80

Post by neves »

cassianoleal wrote: post #40
dbolgheroni wrote: post #15

People underestimate how difficult it was to transfer money before Pix, even between local banks. The process was hard to use, it could take days and the fees were huge, depending on your bank. Pix solved all these problems. What happens also is that many sellers provide discounts when using Pix, because you dodge the expensive fees charged not only by Visa and MasterCard, but the fees operators (banks, fintechs) cha…

I worked in a bank in Brazil in the early 2000s. Bank transfers were always easy and relatively quick. At worst, transfers would happen overnight during a national event called bank compensation where all banks would sync up with the Central Bank. Pix solved a bunch of problems and made all of the above quicker and easier, but Brazil has been at the forefront of banking systems for a long time.

Man, It is perder of magnitude different. I've noticed it when I gave small money for a beggar using pix. It's really revolutionary.

And remember that credit card fees are greater in Brazil

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