Trusted consultant for the Initial Structure of Open Finance at the Central Bank, Sensedia, a Brazilian multinational technology company specializing in APIs and integrations, has mapped four innovations related to the Open Finance system that are expected to gain traction in the Brazilian market in 2025.
“After a wave of regulatory changes, marked by topics such as recurring Pix, smart Pix, automatic renewal of consent for data sharing, and the start of the Redirect-Free Journey, we can definitely say that 2024 was the year of payments. For 2025, beyond the evolution of these processes, we can expect an expansion of the financial system, increasingly open and integrated, toward other fronts,” says João Ricardo de Almeida, Product Manager at Sensedia.
According to Sensedia’s analysis, among the innovations anticipated in Brazilian Open Finance for 2025 are the implementation of Automatic Pix, the advancement of the Redirect-Free Journey, which will enable the implementation of Proximity Pix, the start of credit portability, and a more intensive role for the Central Bank in validating the information contained in mandatory reports submitted by companies.
“With the progressive advancement of Open Finance in Brazil, we are not only becoming a reference model for other countries but also contributing to the construction of an increasingly competitive market, benefiting users. After all, the agile and secure opening of data will allow financial institutions to better understand customer profiles to offer increasingly personalized products and services,” emphasizes Gabriela Santana, Product Manager at Sensedia.
From Smart Pix to Automatic Pix
Enabled in 2024 by the Central Bank, Smart Pix allows automatic and programmable transfers between bank accounts of the same holder, based on consent given via Open Finance. This enables a financial institution to move balances between different accounts of the same user, according to programmed settings.
“By the first half of 2025, the same API (Application Programming Interface) used for Smart Pix is expected to release another functionality: Automatic Pix, which in practice is equivalent to automatic debit but within the Open Finance system,” explains Almeida.
According to the executive, the main differentiators of Automatic Pix compared to automatic debit relate to cost and greater user engagement due to the simplicity of the registration system.
“In addition to the cost of issuing a boleto—currently averaging R$ 0.68 plus operational costs—currently, automatic debit registration is only possible at major banks. With Automatic Pix, smaller and digital banks will also be able to participate in this ecosystem, expanding the range of services and products and intensifying competition,” adds Almeida.
Proximity Pix, the evolution of the Redirect-Free Journey
Currently in the pilot phase, the Redirect-Free Journey aims to enable banking and fintech environments to reduce steps in online payment processes and facilitate the offering of Pix in digital wallets (or wallets), enabling Proximity Pix, also made possible through NFC (Near Field Communication) technology.
Thus, when making a virtual purchase via Pix through Open Finance, the user can make the payment directly, without being redirected to their account’s app or internet banking via ‘copy and paste.’
“Scheduled to be available to the general public on February 28, 2025, the Redirect-Free Journey is the big bet for payments to increasingly occur via Open Finance. To achieve this, in 2025, the Central Bank is expected to launch a task force to increase adoption and stability of the Redirect-Free Journey, requiring all banks to participate and allowing users to make Proximity Pix through a greater number of institutions starting in 2026,” explains Gabriela Santana.
Beyond banks, the Redirect-Free Journey is also expected to extend to payment initiators, improving the user experience, both through Proximity Pix and e-commerce checkout.
Credit Portability and EPOC
After advancements in Automatic Pix and the Redirect-Free Journey, the next step expected to be discussed again within Open Finance is credit portability.
“Currently, credit analysis across different institutions is a bureaucratic process, taking an average of 7 to 15 days to complete. Credit portability via Open Finance, however, anticipates that already signed credit contracts can be migrated between institutions via Open Finance through the data consent journey in up to three days. This will not only speed up the process but also make the market more competitive, encouraging the reduction of abusive fees and benefiting users,” explains the executive.
Another innovation tied to credit portability via Open Finance is the creation of EPOC (Credit Proposal Forwarding), a credit contracting journey via banking correspondents, similar to SPOC (Customer Order Processing Society) in Open Insurance (OpIn).
“Through EPOC, a banking correspondent can send the consented data of a client, whether an individual or legal entity, to a list of credit-providing institutions. The goal is for these institutions to consult the history and, based on that, offer credit in a standardized way, allowing the client to access all available rates and obtain financing all at once,” explains Santana.
Data Accuracy
Through Normative Instruction BCB No. 441 of December 20, 2023, the Central Bank has been reinforcing the monitoring of Open Finance, mandatory for participating institutions. This measure is expected to intensify in 2025.
“Currently, the Central Bank relies on four data sources: metrics, weekly and semi-annual interoperability reports, and PCM (Metrics Collection Platform). In 2025, all of this will be scrutinized much more strictly, with less tolerance for discrepancies between numbers reported via PCM and those reported in other reports, making it essential for data to be increasingly accurate. Non-compliance with regulations may result in fines and sanctions, requiring total alignment in 2025,” concludes the executive.
