OpenPayd Launches Instant Payments on Brazil’s Pix Network

OpenPayd says its clients can now make transactions via Pix, Brazil’s real-time payment network.

The new offering, announced by the embedded finance infrastructure provider last week, comes as Brazil is emerging as the world’s most digitally engaged countries, thanks in part to the popularity of Pix.

“Pix was developed to combat the challenges created by traditional fund transfer methods offered by Brazil’s banking sector which incurred high transfer fees, were limited by settlement time and restricted to ‘working day’ operational hours,” OpenPayd said in a news release.

“Pix local payments in contrast are available 24/7 and a much cheaper, more reliable option for businesses and consumers alike.”

Launched in 2020, Pix has been used by roughly two-thirds of the population of Brazil and is the second-most used real-time electronic transfer system in the world after the United Payments Interface (UPI) in India, the release said. 

In May, there were more than 5 billion Pix transactions processed, “demonstrating the scale of, and demand for, real-time payments in the LatAm market,” said Mert Aslaner, head of product at OpenPayd. 

“Enabling access to the world’s largest payment rails ensures that our customers’ payments can be as wide-reaching and agile as they are,” added Aslaner.

Research from the PYMNTS Intelligence report “How The World Does Digital” shows that Brazil is the country with the highest level of digital engagement of the 11 nations studied.

Pix’s introduction was a force that “lit up” Brazil, Ruben Salazar Genovez, president of cross-border payment enabler TerraPay, said during a recent PYMNTS panel discussion.

“In many ways, Pix is the enabler for this impressive digital adoption in Brazil,” he said. “The gig economy, content creators, gaming, streaming services like Netflix or marketplaces like Mercado Libre, all of them need efficient payment infrastructure. So Pix is the backbone of this digital adoption in Brazil today.”

Pix, said Genovez, also helped more businesses and consumers to engage across digital marketplaces and to open the door for FinTechs and other digital-only innovators — to the point that the country has been home to 45% of FinTech revenues in the region as neobanks such as Nubank have gained ground.

“None of this happened by chance,” added Odilon Almeida, managing principal of AJ Holdings and operating partner at Advent International, who also took part in the discussion.

That report also noted that Brazil’s central bank has made participation in instant payments mandatory for banks and other financial services firms, to allow gig economy workers, content creators and marketplaces to access efficient payments infrastructure. 

Payments speed, panelists said, has been critical to countering the effects of hyperinflation, because money received today is worth more than might be seen tomorrow.