Today, June 16, the automatic Pix comes into effect in Brazil, another milestone in the payment methods journey that promises to expand access to services, reduce operational costs for businesses and consumers, and increase user engagement due to the system’s simplicity in registration.
According to Sensedia — a trusted consultant for the initial structure of Open Finance with the Central Bank of Brazil and one of the participants in the pilot project for implementing automatic Pix, which has been undergoing tests since April this year — unlike traditional automatic debit, which depends on contracts between service providers and specific banks, the new solution allows any company registered with Open Finance as a payment initiator to offer this functionality.
With this, streaming services, e-commerce platforms, marketplaces, education and digital service providers such as Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney+, Uber, Shopee, Shein, TikTok, Monday.com, Spotify, among others, will be able to adopt the novelty — either directly as Open Finance participants or by contracting enabled PISPs (Payment Initiation Service Providers).
“However, it is important to note that starting June 16, enrollment in automatic Pix will only apply to financial institutions mandated by the Central Bank of Brazil’s regulation, which are already part of Open Finance. As for the other key component in making this system work — service companies and payment initiators — enrollment remains optional but essential to enable the user experience in services,” explains Rafael Isquierdo, Open Finance expert and Group Product Manager at Sensedia.
Since the entire mechanism of this process is done via APIs (application programming interfaces, in literal translation), service companies not participating in Open Finance can use APIs from participating institutions to offer automatic Pix.
“With automatic Pix, users no longer need to visit the bank in person to register their account for automatic debit or wait for their bank to have agreements with registered companies. Consent for recurring payments is given directly on the service provider’s website or app during the purchasing process. After authorizing the transaction in the banking app, payments are made periodically and automatically,” emphasizes Gabriela Santana, Product Manager at Sensedia.
According to Sensedia’s experts, besides improving the user journey, another major advantage of automatic Pix is financial inclusion. This is because those without a credit card, for example, can split payments or schedule monthly payments via automatic Pix.
“By eliminating fees from card machines, credit card networks, and issuing banks — common in the case of credit cards — as well as the costs of issuing a boleto — currently averaging R$ 0.68, plus operational costs — automatic Pix also helps maximize profit margins, potentially resulting in more competitive prices for consumers. Additionally, since automatic debit was previously only available at major banks, automatic Pix enables small and digital banks to participate in this ecosystem, expanding their service and product offerings, increasing competition, and improving the quality of offers and services for the population,” highlights Gabriela.
