Carlos María Melhem 

Allende & Brea, Buenos Aires

cmelhem@allende.com

Micaela Boruchowicz

Allende & Brea, Buenos Aires

mboruchowicz@allende.com  
 

Introduction

Continuing with the same approach to Fintech companies as taken when it sanctioned the country's payment service provider (PSP) regulations, the Argentine Central Bank has created a new real-time payment scheme, named Transferencias 3.0, through Communiqué A 7175, dated 5 December 2020 (the 'Communiqué').

Transferencias 3.0: an overview

The Communiqué introduces a new ‘Standardised Payments Interface’ which seeks to expand the reach of instant transfers and payments. It will allow the matching of payments through an open and interoperable digital ecosystem in the framework of the Argentine Payment System. It incorporates an integrated, automatic and irrevocable real-time accreditation payment system, which must be available 24/7 all year round, and suitable to replace cash efficiently and safely.

Transferencias 3.0 comprises the transfer of funds between two persons, between a person and a company, and between companies, and is composed mainly of the following participants:

• a sender,
• a receiver;
• one or more financial institutions, banks and PSPs (functioning as originators or recipients); and
• an administrator, which can only work as such with the Central Bank’s prior authorisation.

So far, the entities authorised by the Central Bank to act as administrators are Compensadora Electrónica S.A., Interbanking S.A., Prisma Medios de Pago S.A. and Red Link S.A.

Costs and fee limits

According to the Transferencias 3.0 regulations, transfers are subject to the following fee limits (depending on the business model being used):

Payment by the sender through its originator

• Fees cannot be established as percentages of the amounts transferred, but as a fixed amount per transaction; and
• Transfers are free of charge for the sender if they meet any of the following conditions:
  • free micro initial tranche, in the case of microenterprises, where the transfers ordered by the sender do not cumulatively exceed – per calendar month, per currency and per account provider – 7,500 unidads de valor adquisitivo (UVAs) (AR$112,500), for transactions in pesos, and $6,000/€6,000 for transactions in these currencies;
  • the sender and the beneficiary of such transfer (ie, the receiver) are the same person, whether natural or legal;
  • transfers from or to bank accounts for judicial purposes; or
  • the sender is a ‘financial services user’.[1]

Payment by the receiver to the recipient

The recipient may charge the receiver, to whom they provide services, a maximum equal to the fees detailed in Table 1 as a percentage of the amounts received by the receiver through Transferencias 3.0.

The fees charged by the recipient will involve the payment of an interchange fee to the originator (account provider). Table 1 sets categories of receivers based on the amounts received through Transferencias 3.0: for each category, it sets the maximum fee to be paid by the receiver to the recipient and the interchange fee to be paid by the recipient to the originator, as well as which party must bear the payment of the processing fee per transaction. Such processing fee shall be the same for any transfers.

Table 1: Transfer fees

Transfers shall be free of charge for the receiver during the first three full calendar months, provided that the transfers received by the receiver do not exceed, cumulatively per calendar month, per currency and per recipient, 1,000 UVAs (AR$15,000) for transactions in pesos, and $1,000/€1,000 for transactions in these currencies.

Where transfers are free of charge, the interchange fee will not be applicable, and no processing fees may be charged by the administrator. This free initial tranche will only be applicable to receivers falling within the definition of ‘small merchants’.[2]​​​​​​​

Payment service providers

Previous regulations on PSPs, Central Bank Communiqués A 6859 and A 6885, issued in January 2020, defined PSPs as any legal entity which, without being a financial institution or bank, fulfill at least one function within the Argentine payments system – making no distinction as to whether the PSPs offer payment accounts or not. This approach was altered through the communiqué that created the Transferencias 3.0 payment system by establishing two types of PSPs as follows:

• PSPs that offer payment accounts, which must be registered and comply with reporting obligations to the Central Bank; and
• PSPs which fulfill at least one function within the Argentine payments system, other than offering payment accounts, which are not registered and need not comply with reporting obligations to the Central Bank.

In relation to PSPs that offer payment accounts, the Communiqué maintained the following operational requirements:

1. Customer funds credited to payment accounts offered by PSPs must be available at all times – immediately upon demand by the customer – for an amount at least equivalent to that credited to the payment account. To this end, the systems implemented by the PSPs must always be able to identify and individualise the funds of each customer;
2. For transactions on their own account (eg, payment to suppliers, payment of salaries, etc), PSPs must use an operational bank account separate from the bank account in which the PSP customers’ funds are deposited; and
3. 100 per cent of the customers’ funds must be deposited, at all times, in the PSPs’ bank account in pesos with an Argentine financial institution or bank.

In addition, in order to enhance the Central Bank’s surveillance authority over PSPs that offer payment accounts, the regulations provide the following obligations: (1) to register themselves with the Payment Service Providers Registry held by the Central Bank, and (2) to comply with certain reporting obligations to be established by the Central Bank.

Moreover, the regulations specifically provide that PSPs that offer payment accounts must give access to their facilities and documentation to the Central Bank personnel. They must also provide the Central Bank with the necessary tools for real-time consultations and reporting, under terms to be defined by the Central Bank.

Implementation phases

According to Central Bank regulations, Transferencias 3.0 started operating as from 7 December 2020 in relation to the use of debit cards and the provision of QR codes for initiation of Transferencias 3.0 transactions. The use of prepaid cards for initiating Transferencias 3.0 transactions will not be allowed until 31 May 2021.

In addition, the Communiqué provides that the administrators of Transferencias 3.0 are obliged to submit a plan for compliance with the Transferencias 3.0 regulations for approval by the Central Bank before 29 November 2021. This plan shall set out the phases of implementation and full compliance with applicable regulations and standards.

Conclusions

The creation by the Central Bank of the Transferencias 3.0 real-time payment system is a step forward in the regulation of means of payment in Argentina. As a positive point, we highlight the distinction made by the regulation between PSPs that offer payments accounts and those that do not, clarifying their limits and obligations.

However, it remains uncertain how the Central Bank will interpret and implement this new real-time payment system, particularly considering that in some senses, the Communiqué over-regulates payment transactions, putting free market principles under threat.