Brazil central bank allows PIX transfers from other banks via WhatsApp

The functionality went live on 31 October 2022. The institution is reportedly the first in the world to offer this option. In August 2022, Brazil’s central bank allowed customers to complete the journey of consenting to data sharing within the scope of Open Finance through WhatsApp, something also reportedly unprecedented. Furthermore, BB was reportedly the first large bank in Brazil to operate as an initiator of payment transactions and to offer customers the transfer of funds from other banks via PIX, without leaving the BB application.

The latest functionality has been made possible due to payment initiation, a service brought by the third phase of Open Finance. Payment initiation allows transactions to be carried out without having to enter the application of the bank where the funds will come from. Payment initiation can be used for making purchases in online stores or even making transfers from one financial institution to another, for example. For the moment, however, the Central Bank has only released payment initiation for PIX transactions.

According to the president of BB, the Open Finance payment initiator will transform the way people generate their finances and increase the dispute for being the client's preferred application. WhatsApp is reportedly one of the most used apps on a daily basis by Brazilians. At first, the customer will be able to bring funds from other bank accounts to BB. Gradually, this possibility of using the balance in other banks to make transfers or payments will become integrated with other functionalities of the virtual assistant, such as the payment of instalments and invoices, for example.

To make a transfer, the customer will need to type the following sentence on BB's WhatsApp: ‘bring money from another bank’. Next, the user will choose the institution from which he wants to bring the balance, and then be directed to the channel of the institution in question to confirm the transfer. According to BB, the list already covers more than 90% of the banks with which customers interact, and will be gradually expanded. To use this functionality, it is not necessary that the customer has consented to share data from other accounts with the public bank.

Currently, around 12 million bank customers use WhatsApp for inquiries and transactions. In addition, 1.2 million customers share data from other banks with BB within the scope of Open Finance, Broadcast concludes.