Brazil’s Central Bank Previews Contactless Pix Payments

Contactless Google Wallet payments are coming to Brazil’s Pix system.

The country’s central bank this week previewed the new offering — Pix by Proximity — on Monday (Nov. 4), with central bank (BC) President Roberto Campos Neto joined by Fábio Coelho, president of Google Brazil. The offering is available now for digital wallet users, and will be offered to all Pix users starting in February of next year.

The system will let users pay by placing their phones near payment terminals, using bank accounts connected to Google Wallet.

“The future of instant payments is happening in several countries,” said Campos Neto. “But we have been concerned from the beginning with making Pix programmable to communicate with different systems. We have Pix, Open Finance and Drex meeting now, but it is something that the BC has been designing since 2018.”

The announcement comes amid a surge in contactless payments and other tools that are replacing the use of cash and cards.

“Innovations like tap on mobile and mobile wallets go a long way to simplify and ease the payment experience for the customer,” Julie Malikayil, senior manager, payments products at Discover® Global Network, told PYMNTS last month.

She added that these innovations offer companies, especially small- to medium-sized businesses (SMBs), flexibility, cost-effectiveness and improved customer experiences. Still, Malikayil argued that it’s essential to first understand the distinctions between tap on mobile and mobile wallets.

“Tap on Mobile is the ability to accept payments via a mobile device without needing additional attachments or peripherals,” she said.

This permits merchants to carry out transactions seamlessly from their smartphones or tablets. Mobile wallets, meanwhile, allow customers to make payments right from their mobile devices, giving them a quick and convenient way to complete purchases.

These innovations streamline the payment process while also expanding opportunities for merchants after years of dealing with the limits of traditional point of sale (POS) systems.

“A traditional POS is stationary and takes up a lot of space,” Malikayil said. This hinders how and where payments can be made.

By contrast, tap on mobile payment solutions untether merchants from a single checkout spot, something that is particularly useful for SMBs that may not have the resources to invest in and maintain high-tech hardware infrastructure.