Requirements to operate as a Payment Initiator (ITP)
In 2013, Banco Central regulated the Brazilian payments industry with the goal of digitizing, modernizing and democratizing financial services. Since then, under its oversight, new services, players and modalities have emerged — all of which have helped turn the country into a payments-methods powerhouse.
In 2013, Banco Central regulated the Brazilian payments industry with the goal of digitizing, modernizing and democratizing financial services. Since then, under its oversight, new services, players and modalities have emerged — all of which have helped turn the country into a payments-methods powerhouse.
The latest addition to the industry is the Payment Initiator (ITP), a new modality that lets payments flow in a smoother, simpler way — improving the user experience and making it more attractive by removing the need to scan a QR Code or use the "copy and paste" Pix code.
This modality is regulated by Banco Central do Brasil under Resolução BCB 80/2021, which establishes the requirements and steps an institution must meet to be authorized to operate as an ITP.
On top of that, each institution needs a technology stack to support the service and the full product build (APIs, Backoffice, Integrations), including:
- Joining the Pix arrangement;
- Joining the Open Finance Directory;
- Integration with the Open Finance APIs;
- Pix Tester — Pix arrangement validation tool;
- OpenID certification (international standards body responsible for the security model of Open Finance Brasil);
- Certificates;
- Production onboarding (validation tests with account-holding institutions);
- User experience interface flow required by regulation, defined by the UX working group.
According to Verônica Rossi, associate lawyer at Pinheiro Neto Advogados, the declaratory process is relatively simple — that is, getting the authorization request in. But the other requirements need to be carefully prepared to be accepted. "You need a risk management structure, you need to meet everything required under AML and cybersecurity policies. You need to make a business plan available to Banco Central, which involves a series of technical, market, operational and financial questions. It's important to have everything well structured and to show it actually works."
Iniciador is the solution that makes this whole process easier
Rules and technology are constantly updated, which is why every phase is so complex and often slow. To bring your institution to market faster and participate in Open Finance Brasil as a Payment Initiator, you can count on Iniciador — a software platform focused on Open Payments that lets your company keep its focus on its core business.
We're specialists in Payment Initiation (ITP). Our platform is PCI Compliant, certified by the OpenID Foundation, and compliant with Banco Central do Brasil regulations, the Pix arrangement, and the Open Finance Directory rules. Schedule a time to talk with us.