Brazil’s Central Bank Shifts From ‘May One Day’ to Active Talks as It Pursues International Pix Integration #

Brazil’s central bank has updated its position on cross-border expansion of Pix, the country’s instant payments platform. Where its 2023 management report described international linkage as something the system “may in the future” pursue, the latest version confirms that authorities are in active discussions about bilateral connections with foreign payment systems and are looking at joining multilateral payment hubs.

The bank says connecting real-time payment rails across borders could lower transaction costs, speed settlement, broaden financial access and add transparency to international money flows. It has signed information-sharing agreements on Pix with 65 foreign partners, including Germany, Canada, South Africa and Turkey.

Pix continued to grow at home. Transaction volumes rose 25.7% in 2025 from the prior year, reaching nearly 80 billion transfers. Total value processed exceeded 35 trillion reais, roughly $6.87 trillion. Consumer-to-business payments accounted for 43% of all Pix activity last year, up from 6% in 2020, as the platform has grown beyond peer-to-peer transfers into mainstream retail payments.

The international push faces complications from the United States. The Trump administration cited Pix in a trade investigation concluded in July, raising concerns about the central bank’s dual role as both operator and regulator of the system, and used those findings in part to justify new 25% tariffs on Brazilian imports. The central bank reiterated in its new report that Pix is critical public digital infrastructure.

With information-sharing agreements in place across multiple continents and bilateral connection talks ongoing, the remaining question is which markets Brazil will target first for live interoperability, and whether its model of state-built instant payments can serve as a template for cross-border connectivity in other emerging markets.

Source: PYMNTS