Even though some attempts have been made to disrupt it, Latin America’s payments structure is still more or less the same, with cash playing a huge role and electronic payments representing a small percentage of LatAm consumer spending.
But that could change with real-time payments (RTPs). These are interbank money transfers in which the payer’s and receiver’s bank accounts are updated instantly once a payment transaction is started. RTPs allow for payments to be made and received on any day, at any time. Typically, these start with a push payment from a customer. Clearing is done in real time (in as little as 1.5 seconds) and settlement is either deferred or done in real time.
As part of our thought leadership service for Latin America, our payments team recently partnered with ACI Worldwide to create a whitepaper covering real-time payments. The paper is entitled Real-Time Payments in Latin America: Potential for Massive Disruption. It covers how these payments work, their benefits, downsides and possible impact in the region, particularly with e-commerce in Latin America. The whitepaper also looks at the state of regulatory frameworks in different countries regarding real-time payments.
Click on the cover images below to download the whitepaper in either English or Spanish.
