The tension between banks and fintechs has risen again, this time because of the number of operations that can be performed through the interoperable QR that the government has promoted. After the traditional entities have urged the Central Bank to “open” the interoperability of payments to extend it to those made with credit cards, Mercado Pago came out to respond: “we are not a monopoly”.
A letter signed by Adeba-based banks was released on Friday calling for changes to the rules governing payments via QR codes, so that they are “fully interoperable with credit and debit cards”. with any means of payment through a QR code and not just with the money in the account.
With no official comments on the matter, the fintech Mercado Libre has come to the crossroads with a new release. “Contrary to what the ADEBA banks claim, the Mercado Pago QR, far from being a monopoly or a dominant player, is a means of funding that compete in a market largely controlled by banks and traditional players”, indicated in the company.
At the same time, they ensured this “Only 7% of face-to-face digital media payments happen in QRs of the market payment. Over 90% of electronic payments in shops take place in traditional collection terminals, with which the QR competes”.
Mercado Pago, which was the forerunner of the use of the QR code as a form of payment in Argentina, ensured that for this invested more than $30 million in 2018 and that three years later, Central was the one that made it mandatory for QRs to accept wire transfer payments from any wallet (interoperability), and the company fully complies with those regulations,
“The banks have not made a remotely similar investment, and they have not distributed QRs even in companies”, they attacked and counterattacked: “Mercado Pago is interoperable: more than 500,000 companies that operate with our QR have already received payments from another wallet or bank. Meanwhile, some banks have put barriers to other services, limiting users to transfers from CBU to CVU.
Fintech recalled an old episode in the history of banks: when, in 2017, the National Commission for the Defense of Competition accused the owners of Prisma Medios de Pagos of anti-competitive practices and forced them to separate from the company. “Three years later, some banks thereThey launched MODE which is nothing more than an initiative where they coordinate rather than compete.”
The document signed by the Adeba nucleated banks, including Macro, Galicia, Comafi, Hipotecario, Supervielle, Bancor, just to name a few, guaranteed that currently any consumer has the option to pay with any debit or credit card in a store ” without worrying about who supplied the merchant with the “device” (the POS) that reads the card”, which is called “full interoperability”.
But when payments are initiated via a QR code, “you can only pay with credit or debit cards to the extent you are a customer of the wallet or institution providing the QR.” Mercado Pago responded 85% of its clients are “neighborhood businesses and entrepreneurs with sales of less than $100,000 a month. This segment has been overlooked and ignored by banks for decades”
“Mercado Pago has developed a free digital account through which more than 7 million people in Argentina invest their balances in a mutual fund managed by BIND and generate returns (currently at 63.8% per annum), with the ability to use silver at any time. Banks do not remunerate balances and charge an account maintenance fee,” the letter read.
“For us, what is strange is that concentrated interests continue to prevail who pay little attention to the need to continue to include more Argentines financially,” the statement concludes.
Source: Clarin
