2026-01-01 | JPRFM-2026-029-MThe Financial and Monetary Policy and Regulation Board (JPRFM) issued Resolution No. JPRFM-2026-029-M to reform the Central Bank of Ecuador's codified monetary policy resolutions governing the National Payments System. The resolution updates definitions for payment keys and real-time payments, establishes irrevocability standards for payment orders, and mandates key portability and QR code interoperability standards. Additionally, it sets implementation timelines for payment network connectivity and reserve requirements for specialized electronic payment societies.
RESOLUTION No. JPRFM-2026-029-M THE BOARD OF FINANCIAL AND MONETARY POLICY AND REGULATION
CONSIDERING:
That, Article 226 of the Constitution of the Republic of Ecuador prescribes that public servants and persons acting by virtue of a state power shall exercise only the competencies and faculties attributed to them in the Constitution and the Law;
That, Article 227 ibid states that Public Administration constitutes a service to the community governed by the principles of efficiency, quality, hierarchy, coordination, planning, among others;
That, numeral 1 of Article 302 supra provides that monetary, credit, exchange, and financial policies, among others, have as their objective to supply the necessary means of payment so that the economic system operates efficiently;
That, the first clause of Article 303 of the Magna Carta determines that the formulation of monetary, credit, exchange, and financial policies is the exclusive faculty of the Executive Function and will be implemented through the Central Bank of Ecuador;
That, on October 13, 2025, the Organic Reform Law of the Organic Code of Monetary and Finance was published in the Sixth Supplement of the Official Register No. 142;
That, Article 13 of the Organic Code of Monetary and Finance creates the Board of Financial and Monetary Policy and Regulation, part of the Executive Function, as an organ with functional, technical, and institutional autonomy, and in its decisions, responsible for the formulation of monetary, credit, financial, securities, insurance, and prepaid comprehensive health care services policy and regulation. The Board of Financial and Monetary Policy and Regulation will be the highest governing body of the Central Bank of Ecuador;
That, Article 17 of the referred Code, in its pertinent part, determines that:
"(...) For the fulfillment of these functions, the Board will issue regulations in matters within its competence, without altering legal provisions. The Board of Financial and Monetary Policy and Regulation may issue regulations by segments, economic activities, and other criteria. It may even reform or repeal regulations from the former Board of Monetary Policy and Regulation, Board of Financial Policy and Regulation, or Board of Monetary and Financial Policy and Regulation. All norms and policies issued by the Board of Financial and Monetary Policy and Regulation in the exercise of its functions, duties, and faculties must be backed by duly substantiated technical and legal reports (...)";
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That, Article 19 of the same Code, among the specific functions of the Board of Financial and Monetary Policy and Regulation in the monetary field, establishes:
"1. Formulate policy in the monetary field and observe its application by the Central Bank of Ecuador, to preserve the integrity and sustainability of the dollarization monetary system and the financial system, in accordance with the provisions of this Code; 2. Establish the policies of the Central Bank of Ecuador and supervise their implementation; (...) 9. Regulate the central payment system, as well as the regulation, permission, registration, surveillance, and supervision of auxiliary payment systems; (...)";
That, Article 24 of the same Code provides that the acts of the Board of Financial and Monetary Policy and Regulation enjoy the presumption of legality and will be expressed through resolutions that will have mandatory force, which will govern from their publication in the Official Register, or from the date of their issuance when so determined by the Board, in accordance with the subject matter;
That, Article 25.2 ibid determines that the Technical Secretariat of the Board of Financial and Monetary Policy and Regulation is exercised by the Central Bank of Ecuador, and Article 25.3 establishes as its functions the preparation of technical and legal reports supporting regulation proposals, providing technical and administrative support to the Board of Financial and Monetary Policy and Regulation, and any others assigned by said Board;
That, Article 36 of the Organic Code of Monetary and Finance establishes as functions of the Central Bank of Ecuador the following:
"(...) 13. Administer the central payment system, promoting interoperability among participants in the payments ecosystem, financial inclusion, and technological innovation, within its competence; 14. Exercise control over means of payment; and, surveillance and supervision of auxiliary payment systems, promoting efficiency, interoperability, and innovations in this area (...)";
That, Article 99 of the referred Organic Code establishes: "Means of payment are checks and electronic means of payment comprising transfers for payment or collection, credit, debit, prepaid, reloadable or non-reloadable cards, and other technology-centered means of payment, under the terms determined and regulated by the Board of Financial and Monetary Policy and Regulation.
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Electronic means of payment may be processed through electronic wallets or any other channel established by the Board of Financial and Monetary Policy and Regulation";
That, the first and second clauses of Article 103 ibid state: "The national payments system comprises the set of policies, norms, instruments, procedures, and services through which resource transfers managed through means of payment and the settlement of values between its various participants are effected, directly or indirectly. The national payments system is integrated by the central payment system and auxiliary payment systems. The Central Bank of Ecuador will establish the requirements for authorization, operation, registration, and information disclosure of these systems. The corresponding tariff regime for means and systems of payment will be regulated by the Board of Monetary Policy and Regulation (...)";
That, Article 104 supra determines: "The central payment system is the set of policies, norms, instruments, procedures, and services articulated and coordinated, under the responsibility of the Central Bank of Ecuador, through which resource transfers among its participants are effected, as well as their compensation and settlement. The Board of Monetary Policy and Regulation will establish the requirements and conditions for access to the central payment system";
That, Article 105 of the referred Organic Code provides: "Auxiliary payment systems are the set of policies, norms, instruments, procedures, and services articulated and coordinated, public or private, authorized by the Central Bank of Ecuador, established to effect resource transfers, money remittances, or compensation among their various participants";
That, Article 108 of the Organic Code states: "The Central Bank of Ecuador is the compensator and settler of resources in the central payment system and settler of resources in auxiliary payment systems. These auxiliary systems, as well as entities of the national financial system, will submit with the periodicity and in the manner determined by the Board of Monetary Policy and Regulation the details and results of the compensation processes to be settled (...)";
That, Article 109 of the referred Organic Code determines: "The Central Bank of Ecuador will effect surveillance and supervision of auxiliary payment systems and their administering entities, as well as any payment infrastructure or monetary resource transfer infrastructure acting in the market, to ensure the correct functioning of channels, instruments, and means of payment processed through them.
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The Board of Monetary Policy and Regulation will adopt regulations to determine the operation, governance, risk control, and financial requirements that auxiliary payment systems and their managing agencies must comply with. The administrators of auxiliary payment systems, including any payment infrastructure or monetary resource transfer infrastructure, for their operation must have authorization from the Central Bank of Ecuador, and will be obligated to submit the information requested by it and within the deadlines determined (...)";
That, Article 109.1 of the same Code, regarding sanctions applicable to unauthorized persons in the auxiliary payment system, establishes that: "The Central Bank of Ecuador may sanction legal entities that carry out activities established for the auxiliary payment system without having the authorization issued by the Central Bank of Ecuador";
That, General Provision Twenty-Ninth ibid states: "In current legislation where mention is made, indistinctly, of the Board of Monetary and Financial Policy and Regulation, the Board of Monetary Policy and Regulation; or, the Board of Financial Policy and Regulation, replace and understand as 'Board of Financial and Monetary Policy and Regulation';
That, by Resolution No. JPRM-2025-006-M, of July 16, 2025, the "Codification of Monetary Policy Resolutions and Operations of the Central Bank of Ecuador issued by the Board of Monetary Policy and Regulation" was issued, which among other things, regulates aspects related to the National Payments System, interoperability for real-time electronic money transfers, the Integrator Payment System (SIP), payments with keys and QR codes, as well as general and transitional provisions for its implementation;
That, Transitional Provision First of the Organic Reform Law of the Organic Code of Monetary and Finance determines that members of the Board of Financial and Monetary Policy and Regulation, sworn in on September 16, 2025, by the National Assembly, will continue to exercise their functions for the periods for which they were designated, maintaining their labor continuity and acquired rights;
That, by Office No. T.233-SGJ-25-098, of September 5, 2025, signed by the Constitutional President of the Republic, addressed to the President of the National Assembly, the list of candidates for the designation of Members of the Board of Financial and Monetary Policy and Regulation was sent; as well as, the temporality of their stay within the initial period;
That, the Plenary of the National Assembly, on September 16, 2025, designated and
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sworn in the members of the Board of Financial and Monetary Policy and Regulation, the persons: Gustavo Estuardo Camacho Dávila; Silvia Daniela Moya Arteta; Roberto Javier Basantes Romero; and, María Isabel Camacho Cárdenas;
That, the Board of Financial and Monetary Policy and Regulation, in Ordinary Session No. 014-2026, under electronic (asynchronous) modal, on June 18, 2026, reviewed the proposal sent via Memorandum No. BCE-BCE-2026-0265-M, of June 15, 2026, by the General Manager of the Central Bank of Ecuador to the President of the Board of Financial and Monetary Policy and Regulation; as well as, Technical Report No. BCE-GSIMP-2026-035 / BCE-GMPSN-2026-021 / BCE-GTI-2026-038, of May 18, 2026; Reserved Technical Report No. BCE-GSIMP-2026-034 / BCE-GMPSN-2026-017 / BCE-GR-2026-039 / BCE-GTI-2026-037, of May 19, 2026; Legal Report No. BCE-GJ-068-2026, of June 10, 2026; and, its scope contained in Memorandum No. BCE-GJ-2026-0290-M, of June 15, 2026; and,
In exercise of its functions and in attention to Article 24 of the Organic Code of Monetary and Finance, the Board of Financial and Monetary Policy and Regulation,
RESOLVES:
Article 1.- Substitute numerals 20 "Key" and 23 "Real-time Payment" of Article 90 of Chapter II "Of the National Payments System", Title I "Monetary System" of the "Codification of Monetary Policy Resolutions and Operations of the Central Bank of Ecuador issued by the Board of Monetary Policy and Regulation", issued by Resolution No. JPRM-2025-006-M, of July 16, 2025; with the following:
"20. Key: Unique and public identifier registered by the client in the payment network member, who will validate it to securely link their payment credentials with a reference data, such as their identification number, merchant identification, mobile phone number, email address, or alphanumeric code, to make or receive payments, complying with the technical specifications issued by the Central Bank of Ecuador;".
"23. Real-time Payment: An electronic transaction through which resources are transferred immediately from the ordering account to the beneficiary's account. The ordering client initiates the payment using keys, QR codes, payment credentials, or others in accordance with the technical specifications of the Central Bank of Ecuador, regardless of the participants providing payment services. This process is carried out continuously, operating 24 hours a day, 365 days a year;".
Article 2.- Substitute Article 102 of Section 3 "Non-repudiation in the Central Payment System", Chapter II "Of the National Payments System", Title I "Monetary System" of the "Codification of Monetary Policy Resolutions and Operations of the Central Bank of Ecuador
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issued by the Board of Monetary Policy and Regulation", issued by Resolution No. JPRM-2025-006-M, of July 16, 2025; with the following text:
"Article 102.- Irrevocability: In the Central Payment System, payment orders have the quality of being irrevocable, binding, enforceable, and opposable to third parties and cannot be suspended, revoked, or rendered ineffective once they have been accepted by the System administrator. Payment orders in inter-network transfers have the quality of being irrevocable, binding, enforceable, and opposable to third parties and cannot be suspended, revoked, or rendered ineffective at the moment they are validated in the Integrator Payment System and sent to the Beneficiary Payment Network. Payment orders, in intra-network transfers, have the aforementioned quality at the moment they are received and accepted by the Payment Network administrator and sent to the Beneficiary Entity".
Article 3.- In Article 194 of Paragraph 2 "Principles and obligations of interoperability for electronic money transfers in real time", Subsection 2 "Interoperability for electronic money transfers in real time", Section 16 "Interoperability", Chapter II "Of the National Payments System", Title I "Monetary System" of the "Codification of Monetary Policy Resolutions and Operations of the Central Bank of Ecuador issued by the Board of Monetary Policy and Regulation", issued by Resolution No. JPRM-2025-006-M, of July 16, 2025, after letter h), include the following letter:
"i.- Portability: Right of clients to port their keys from one member to another of the same or another payment network, without restriction; as well as the right of a member to transfer the keys of its clients to the distributed directory of another payment network. In both cases, in accordance with the process established by the Central Bank of Ecuador.".
Article 4.- Substitute letter a) of Article 200, Paragraph 2 "Principles and obligations of interoperability for electronic money transfers in real time", Subsection 2 "Interoperability for electronic money transfers in real time", Section 16 "Interoperability", Chapter II "Of the National Payments System", Title I "Monetary System" of the "Codification of Monetary Policy Resolutions and Operations of the Central Bank of Ecuador issued by the Board of Monetary Policy and Regulation", issued by Resolution No. JPRM-2025-006-M, of July 16, 2025; with the following text:
"a. Establish the registration, suspension, and cancellation processes; as well as their respective update in the Distributed Directories of the payment networks in which they participate;".
Article 5.- Substitute Article 208 of Paragraph 6 "Access technologies that allow initiating payments", Subsection 2 "Interoperability for electronic money transfers in real time", Section 16 "Interoperability", Chapter II "Of the National Payments System", Title I "Monetary System" of the "Codification of Monetary Policy Resolutions and Operations of the Central Bank of Ecuador issued by the Board of Monetary Policy and Regulation", issued by Resolution No. JPRM-2025-006-M, of July 16, 2025; with the following:
"Article 208.- QR Code Standard: The Central Bank of Ecuador will define, through the corresponding regulation, the standards for the encoding and content of QR codes used in payments with this technology; as well as, the transition stages for its implementation. QR codes must contain information that allows uniquely identifying a natural person or legal entity and may be static or dynamic. Compliance with this standard will be mandatory for participants of the Auxiliary Payment System that implement this technology to make payments".
Article 6.- Substitute the General Provision Twenty relative to Section 14 "Specialized Societies for Electronic Deposits and Payments", Chapter II "Of the National Payments System", Title I "Monetary System" of the "Codification of Monetary Policy Resolutions and Operations of the Central Bank of Ecuador issued by the Board of Monetary Policy and Regulation", issued by Resolution No. JPRM-2025-006-M, of July 16, 2025; with the following text:
"TWENTY. - The Central Bank of Ecuador will prepare a comprehensive modernization project for the Central Payment System to enable interoperability of electronic money transfers for real-time payments, for which it will establish an implementation schedule that contemplates phases, milestones, and deadlines for its execution. Prior to the start of this process, the Central Bank of Ecuador will inform the Board of Financial and Monetary Policy and Regulation about the conditions under which said project will be executed. The Central Bank of Ecuador will adopt administrative actions and issue or adapt administrative regulations that are necessary for the compliance with this provision".
Article 7.- Substitute the General Provision Twenty-Two relative to Section 14 "Specialized Societies for Electronic Deposits and Payments", Chapter II "Of the National Payments System", Title I "Monetary System" of the "Codification of Monetary Policy Resolutions and Operations of the Central Bank of Ecuador issued by the Board of Monetary Policy and Regulation", issued by Resolution No. JPRM-2025-006-M, of July 16, 2025; with the following text:
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"TWENTY-TWO. - The members described in Article 197 of the Interoperability subsection must connect to one of the existing payment networks to make payments with keys, registering the corresponding information in the Distributed Directory of their network, complying with technical and security standards for their certification. For the fulfillment of this provision, the Central Bank of Ecuador will establish two differentiated schedules: one for members subject to reserve requirements, with assets greater than or equal to one billion five hundred million United States dollars (USD 1,500,000,000.00), participants of the Auxiliary Payment System authorized in the electronic means of payment processing service to effect payment transfers, and Specialized Societies for Electronic Deposits and Payments; and, another for the other members described in Article 197 of the Interoperability subsection. To this end, the Central Bank of Ecuador will convene the Interinstitutional Advisory Committee on Payments. Once the commitments and deadlines referred to are defined, they will be mandatory for participants".
Article 8.- Substitute the General Provision Twenty-Three relative to Section 14 "Specialized Societies for Electronic Deposits and Payments", Chapter II "Of the National Payments System", Title I "Monetary System" of the "Codification of Monetary Policy Resolutions and Operations of the Central Bank of Ecuador issued by the Board of Monetary Policy and Regulation", issued by Resolution No. JPRM-2025-006-M, of July 16, 2025; with the following text:
"TWENTY-THREE. - Specialized societies for electronic deposits and payments will comply with reserve requirements after a period of three (3) months from having obtained their operational authorization from the Central Bank of Ecuador, under the terms established in this resolution".
Article 9.- Substitute the Transitional Provisions relative to Section 13 "Auxiliary Payment System", Chapter II "Of the National Payments System", Title I "Monetary System" of the "Codification of Monetary Policy Resolutions and Operations of the Central Bank of Ecuador issued by the Board of Monetary Policy and Regulation", issued by Resolution No. JPRM-2025-006-M, of July 16, 2025, with the following:
"FIRST. - Until the Central Bank of Ecuador enables the Integrator Payment System, payment networks may compensate inter-network and intra-network operations to settle at the Central Bank of Ecuador, complying with the procedures and regulations of the Central Bank of Ecuador. SECOND. - Once the Integrator Payment System is enabled, the only compensator of inter-network operations will be the Central Bank of Ecuador".
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Article 10.- Substitute the numbering of Transitional Provision Sixth relative to Section 1 "Percentage of Reserve and Liquidity Reserves of Entities of the Public, Private, Popular and Solidarity Financial Sectors", Chapter IV "Of Monetary Policy Instruments", Title I "Monetary System" of the "Codification of Monetary Policy Resolutions and Operations of the Central Bank of Ecuador issued by the Board of Monetary Policy and Regulation", issued by Resolution No. JPRM-2025-006-M, of July 16, 2025, modifying the denomination "SIXTH" to "THIRD".
FINAL PROVISION. - This resolution will enter into force from its issuance, without prejudice to its publication in the Official Register.
The General Secretariat of the Central Bank of Ecuador is entrusted with its publication on the institutional website and the update of the "Codification of Monetary Policy Resolutions and Operations of the Central Bank of Ecuador issued by the Board of Monetary Policy and Regulation".
NOTIFY AND PUBLISH. - Given in the Distr