Circular No. 3886 — Amends Circular No. 3,682 of November 4, 2013, which regulates payment services within arrangements of the Brazilian Payments System (SPB)

The Collegiate Board of the Central Bank of Brazil, in a session held on March 22, 2018, based on the provisions of Articles 9, item I, and 15 of Law No. 12,865, of October 9, 2013, and in view of the provisions of Resolution No. 4,282, of November 4, 2013,

R E S O L V E:

Art. 1º Circular No. 3,682, of November 4, 2013, shall enter into force with the following alterations:

“Art. 2º ......

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II - ......

a) R$500,000,000.00 (five hundred million reais) of total transaction value, accumulated over the last twelve months; and

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III - in which the payment instrument is offered within the scope of a program intended to grant benefits to natural persons based on employment relationships, service provision, or similar, established by law or by an act of the Federal, State, or Municipal Executive Power.

......” (NR)

Art. 2º The Regulation annexed to Circular No. 3,682, of 2013, shall enter into force with the following alterations:

“Art. 2º ......

I - ......

a) by only one payment institution or financial institution, whose legal entity is the same as that of the arrangement’s creator;

b) by a payment institution or financial institution controlling the arrangement’s creator or controlled by it; or

c) by a payment institution or financial institution that shares the same controller as the arrangement’s creator;

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VIII - sub-acquirer: participant of the payment arrangement that enables a final receiving user to accept a payment instrument issued by a payment institution or a financial institution participating in the same payment arrangement, but which does not participate in the payment transaction settlement process as a creditor vis-à-vis the issuer.” (NR)

“Art. 4º ......

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VII - interoperability with other payment arrangements, when applicable, including the provision for transfer of funds to other payment arrangements.

......” (NR)

“Art. 11. Payment institutions and financial institutions, including when acting as sub-acquirers or as domiciliary institutions, as well as network service providers and other entities carrying out other activities provided for in the participation modalities expressly established in the payment arrangement’s regulation, become participants upon adhering to a payment arrangement.

......” (NR)

“Art. 13. ......

I - possess authorization granted by the Central Bank of Brazil, in cases where such authorization is required by relevant regulation, except for specific provisions governing the provision of payment services during the authorization process of these entities;

......” (NR)

“Art. 15. The provisions of this Section do not apply to electronic money management, account management, issuance, and accreditation of payment instruments within closed arrangements, which must be carried out exclusively by their creator, by institutions controlled by the creator, by controlling entities of the creator, or by entities that share the same controller as the arrangement’s creator, provided that:

......” (NR)

“Art. 16. ......

I - the description of the main business characteristics, containing, at a minimum, indication of the payment services to be provided, target audience, area of operation, location of headquarters, and any eventual dependencies;

II - the articles of association or social contract of the arrangement’s creator and its amendments;

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§ 1º The authorization process referred to in the caput, through documentary analysis, technical interviews, and other available means, will evaluate:

I - the general consistency of the presented regulation, especially regarding the clarity of rules and procedures described;

II - the balance of relationships between the creator and its participants and among the arrangement’s participants regarding non-discriminatory access and the proportionality of participation requirements, rights, and duties;

III - compliance with requirements regarding open participation in payment arrangements and the centralized execution of clearing and settlement processes (Article 26 of this Regulation) and financial risk management (Article 27 of this Regulation); and

IV - the robustness of mechanisms aimed at managing the financial risks referred to in the preceding item.

§ 2º The communication of authorization to the applicant will indicate the issues covered by the authorization process, as well as any minor pending issues, whose treatment and monitoring will integrate the scope of the surveillance process referred to in Section V of this Regulation.

§ 3º The authorization process underway at the Central Bank of Brazil does not exempt the creator of payment arrangements from full compliance with current regulation, the transgressions of which will be treated in parallel within the surveillance process referred to in Section V of this Regulation.” (NR)

“Art. 17. ......

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IV - the types of payment instruments issued within the scope of the arrangement;

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§ 1º The regulation must be clear, objective, and publicly accessible, enabling:

I - arrangement participants to have adequate information about their rights, duties, costs, and eventual risks incurred by participating in the arrangement;

II - final users to have adequate information about their rights and duties arising directly from the rules of the payment arrangement, if any, except for topics that are subject to direct contracting between final users and the participants of the arrangement providing them with the payment service.

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§ 4º The arrangement’s regulation must describe the execution of all activities carried out in the provision of the payment service regulated within the scope of the arrangement, encompassing the relationships and interactions among the various agents responsible for each activity, even if the activities, within a closed arrangement, must be executed exclusively by its creator, by institutions controlled by the creator, by controlling entities of the creator, or by entities that share the same controller as the arrangement’s creator.” (NR)

“Art. 19. ......

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IV - be a closed arrangement established by a payment institution authorized to operate by the Central Bank of Brazil in which the settlement of payment transactions within the arrangement is carried out exclusively in the issuer’s books.

......” (NR)

“Art. 24-E. Creators of payment arrangements whose arrangements are covered by the provisions of §§ 5º to 8º of Article 26 of this Regulation must submit to the Central Bank of Brazil and, upon request, to any participant or legitimate interested party in participating in the arrangement, within a period of up to thirty days counted from the date of publication of this circular, the alterations in the regulations of their respective arrangements that implement the regulatory commands brought in these paragraphs.” (NR)

“Art. 26. ......

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II - include, in a single grid, the positions of all arrangement participants involved in the financial flow of payment transactions that provide payment services directly to the final users of the transaction.

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§ 5º Participation in the centralized settlement of sub-acquirers whose total transaction value, accumulated over the last twelve months, is less than R$500,000,000.00 (five hundred million reais), is:

I - mandatory, in the role of receiver of flows related to transactions in payment arrangements subject to centralized settlement; and

II - optional, in the role of payer to final receiving users of flows related to transactions in payment arrangements subject to centralized settlement.

§ 6º The settlement of obligations referred to in items I and II of § 5º of this article is carried out through a clearing institution duly enabled to act in the system referred to in item I of the caput of this article, to be contracted by the sub-acquirers.

§ 7º Creators of payment arrangements must establish, in their respective regulations, mechanisms so that sub-acquirers who opt not to voluntarily participate in the part of the settlement referred to in item II of § 5º of this article monitor the evolution of the indicated metric and, upon verifying the breach of the limit, inform the creator in a timely manner, taking the necessary measures to adhere, in full, to centralized clearing and settlement within a period of up to 180 (one hundred and eighty) calendar days, counted from the first business day of the month following the month of the limit breach.

§ 8º The creator of the payment arrangement must establish, in the respective payment arrangements, the necessary procedures so that sub-acquirers covered by the provisions of § 7º of this article are able to participate in centralized settlement within the period stipulated in said paragraph, including establishing the consequences for the sub-acquirer for eventual non-compliance with this period.” (NR)

Art. 3º The following are revoked:

I - items “c” and “d” of item II of Article 2º of Circular No. 3,682, of 2013;

II - items “b” and “d” of item IV of Article 4º of Circular No. 3,682, of 2013;

III - items “a” and “b” of item I of Article 13 of the Regulation annexed to Circular No. 3,682, of 2013;

IV - items V and VI of Article 17 of the Regulation annexed to Circular No. 3,682, of 2013; and

V - item II of Article 18 of the Regulation annexed to Circular No. 3,682, of 2013.

Art. 4º This Circular enters into force on the date of its publication.

Reinaldo Le Grazie
Director of Monetary Policy