New Categories of Regulated Payment Service Providers and Measures for Payments with QR Codes

On May 18, 2023, the Argentine Central Bank (BCRA) issued Communication "A" 7769, introducing major amendments to the digital payments vertical, particularly for those companies providing collection services, and especially those accepting payments through QR codes with different payment methods.

The measures approved include:

5. New PSPs subject to registration

The BCRA has expanded the types of payment service providers (PSPs) regulated, by establishing new functions subject to registration. To date, and according to the successive rules issued by the regulator, the PSPs required to register were those offering payment accounts, acting as initiators, and ATM and electronic funds-transfer networks.

The PSPs  also required to register before the BCRA are:

• • Acceptors of payments with transfers: The Communication defines them as those whose function is to "adhere stores to payment with transfer schemes. It includes, among others, the following tasks: facilitating the mechanisms to initiate payments, transmitting the payment order information to the administrator or other participants of the scheme and, if authorized, confirming the transactions."
     
• • Acquirers are defined as those "adhering stores to card payment schemes. It includes, among others, the following tasks: facilitating the mechanisms to initiate payments, transmitting the payment order information to the administrator or other participants of the scheme and, if authorized, confirming the transactions.”
     
• • Aggregators or sub-acquirers are those "providing stores with access to payment schemes that the aggregator has contracted with one or more acquirers, using for such purposes the identifier number (store ID) of the aggregator or sub-acquirer, which acts as the client receiving the funds from the settlement of the different payment schemes."
     
• • Non-bank collection companies for taxes and/or services: These are the traditional collection networks that, according to the defined function, "provide the service of payments and/or collections of taxes and/or services on behalf of third parties through agent networks, through cash and/or payment instruments.”

Companies included in these new regulated categories must apply for registration before starting operations. However, those companies already operating must comply with the required registration before October 1, 2023.

Regarding the operational and commercial description that this type of PSPs must submit when applying for registration, the most common requirements (although there are small differences depending on the type of PSP) are:

1. submitting a flow chart describing the entire process involved a payment,
2. identifying participants and their functions in the payment process,
3. detailing fees structures and, if applicable, accreditation terms.

Acceptors will also need to submit the certificate issued by the legal representative of the administrator of the immediate transfer scheme in which they participate, stating that it has successfully completed the integration with each of the e-wallets registered in the Register of Interoperable Digital Wallets, and that clients can use the QR codes it generates to pay with transfers.

Some additional, specific information is requested regarding the location of the processing centers, the list of technology providers, and those individuals responsible for the tasks of technology and information systems, and information security and asset protection.

Finally, the BCRA establishes a mandatory integration testing process among the different participants in the payment with transfers schemes (interoperable digital wallets and acceptors), at the request of the administrator, to issue the certificate for registering a new e-wallet or acceptor. The implementation of this new measure is still pending.

5. Interoperability for credit card payments through QRs

Article 10 of the Communication establishes that any printed image, device, or terminal provided by an acquirer or aggregator that allows accepting credit card payments by scanning a QR code must:

• Accept payments with transfer on the same QR displayed when the acquirer or aggregator is also an acceptor of payments with transfer.
• Allow any interoperable e-wallet registered in the Register of Interoperable Digital Wallets to pay with the associated credit cards if stores accept them through the corresponding aggregator or acquire. Thus, they must, ensure that the fees and accreditation terms to stores for each payment method do not discriminate by the wallet from which the payment was ordered.

The BCRA established that aggregators or acquirers currently not complying with this requirement must implement it by September 1. To this end, the BCRA will require them to submit a compliance schedule and later notify its advancement, as the different detailed milestones are met.

This measure means that the QR must be interoperable not only for payments with transfers (as was already established by the ‘Transferencias 3.0’ program) but also for payments with credit cards.

Regarding the technical aspects, QR codes must comply with the standards set by the BCRA in its rules and with all the regulations on this matter issued in the different bulletins of the Argentine Interbank Commission of Payment Methods (CIMPRA). Those acceptors, acquirers, and aggregators whose QR codes do not comply with these technical specifications must adapt them within 90 days.

5. Requirement for initiators to comply with rules on transfers

The other aspect regulated by the Communication is that the initiator PSPs (PSIs) must comply with the different requirements set forth in the BCRA’s rules regulating this payment instrument. Until now, PSPCPs were the only PSPs included in these rules.

Thus, the main practical implication will be that those PSPs that initiate immediate transfers from accounts provided by others (PSPCPs or financial institutions) will have to allow their clients to make transfers both to CBU (uniform bank code) and CVU (uniform virtual code), as financial institutions and PSPCPs currently do.