The cell phone is preferred route of Argentines to send and receive money and make payments for instant transfers. According to data from the Central Bank, payments by wire transfer experience a exponential growth, mainly driven by banking applications and mobile wallets.
The agency reported this last October doubled instant transfers than the same month but a year ago, which has exceeded the 162 million operations. This in turn implies a 7.1% growth in the number of transactions compared to those recorded in September,
The data comes from the latest Monthly Report on Retail Payments drawn up by the Central Bank, which shows that payments made via Mobile Banking represent 60% of the number of transactions carried out, when in August it was 57% and at the end of last year it was slightly over 53%. This growth also has an impact onThe use of debit cards, which according to the agency is “virtually stagnant”.
One year after the start of the programme Transfers 3.0, which basically meant the creation of a interoperable QR code, capable of being read by any application on the market, allowing instant transfers to be made at no cost to customers, the agency has witnessed the growth of the entire digital payments ecosystem.
Last October, more than 88 immediate transfers were made within this QR, which had a virtual wallet as its origin or destination account, associated with a Uniform Virtual Key (CVU).
“The new open and universal ecosystem has helped to stimulate greater competition between the various players in the system, which has translated into better conditions for users and businesses. In fact, the goal was to encourage the formation of a payment ecosystem digital open and universal, and achieve greater inclusion of those sectors that do not yet use financial services, one of the management axes of the monetary agency”, the agency remarked.
The implementation of Transfers 3.0, launched in late 2020, was the only measure this regulator launched to improve the digital payments ecosystem. Earlier this year, the agency unveiled new technical requirements for payment service providers (PSPs) and financial entities offering the digital wallet service, to improve the efficiency and security of these transactions.
In February of this year, the Central created the Register of Interoperable Digital Wallets, so that financial institutions and PSPs providing the digital wallet service register and obtain certification to provide the service. The registry, available since July on the BCRA website, allows users to control information from their digital wallets.
All of this translates into a less use of plastic materials when making instant payments. According to the latest data from the Central Bank, 166.45 million debit card transactions were carried out in September this year, 0.78% less than the 167.75 million in August and 9.35% less than to the 183.6 million recorded in July.
The Central reported that from December last year so far this number remains in the range of 160 to 180 million monthly trades.
Source: Clarin
