Circular No. 4027 — Establishes the Instant Payment System (SPI) and the Instant Payment Account (Conta PI) and approves their regulations

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The Collegiate Board of the Central Bank of Brazil, in an extraordinary session held on June 12, 2020, based on art. 10, item IV, of Law No. 4.595, of December 31, 1964, art. 10 of Law No. 10.214, of March 27, 2001, arts. 7, 9, 10, 14, and 15 of Law No. 12.865, of October 9, 2013, arts. 9 and 11 of Resolution No. 2.882, of August 30, 2001, Communication No. 32.927, of December 21, 2018, Communication No. 34.085, of August 28, 2019, and Circular No. 3.985, of February 18, 2020,

R E S O L V E:

Art. 1. The Instant Payment System (SPI) and the Instant Payment Account (Conta PI) are hereby established at the Central Bank of Brazil.

Sole Paragraph. The SPI is the centralized infrastructure for real-time gross settlement of instant payments that result in fund transfers between its participants who hold an Instant Payment Account (Conta PI) at the Central Bank of Brazil.

Art. 2. The Annexed Regulation, which governs the operation of the SPI and the Conta PI, is hereby approved.

Art. 3. The SPI will begin operations on November 3, 2020, with the possibility of gradual availability of system functionalities, including operating hours, and will be fully operational as of November 16, 2020.

Art. 4. The Department of Banking Operations and Payment Systems (Deban) and the Department of Information Technology (Deinf), within their respective areas of expertise, are authorized to adopt the necessary measures for the execution of the provisions of this Circular, including defining the procedures to be observed until the full operation referred to in Art. 3 is achieved.

Art. 5. Arts. 6 and 7 of Circular No. 3.985, of February 18, 2020, are hereby repealed.

Art. 6. This Circular enters into force on July 1, 2020.

Bruno Serra Fernandes
Director of Monetary Policy

ANNEXED REGULATION TO CIRCULAR NO. 4,027, OF JUNE 12, 2020

Regulates the operation of the
Instant Payment System (SPI) and the
Instant Payment Account (Conta PI) at the Central Bank of Brazil.

CHAPTER I

SCOPE OF APPLICATION

Art. 1. The provisions of this Regulation apply to direct participants and indirect participants of the Instant Payment System (SPI).

CHAPTER II

DEFINITIONS

Art. 2. For the purposes of this Regulation, the following expressions and terms are defined as follows:

I - Instant Payment System (SPI): centralized infrastructure for real-time gross settlement of transactions carried out within the scope of the instant payment arrangement that result in fund transfers between its participants who hold an Instant Payment Account (Conta PI) at the Central Bank of Brazil.

II - instant payment: electronic transfer of funds, in which the transmission and availability of funds to the receiving user occur in real time, and whose service is available for 24 (twenty-four) hours a day and on all days of the year;

III - credit order: transfer order of funds whose issuer is the institution holding the account maintained at the Central Bank of Brazil from which the funds subject to the transfer are withdrawn;

IV - instant payment order: credit order issued by an SPI participant within the scope of the instant payment arrangement established by the Central Bank of Brazil (PIX arrangement);

V - return of instant payment: credit order issued by an SPI participant, based on a command from the end user receiving the original instant payment, and used exclusively to return an instant payment previously settled;

VI - Instant Payment Account (Conta PI): account held by a direct participant of the SPI, maintained at the Central Bank of Brazil for the purpose of fund transfers within the scope of the SPI;

VII - SPI direct participant: institution authorized to operate by the Central Bank of Brazil, the National Treasury Secretariat (STN), or clearinghouses and settlement and clearing service providers, authorized to participate in the SPI, holders of a Conta PI, and with direct connection to the system;

VIII - SPI indirect participant: institution that offers instant payment service without possessing a direct connection to the SPI nor a Conta PI, and whose participation occurs through a direct participant, responsible for registering the indirect participant in the SPI and acting as its settler in the SPI for instant payments;

IX - SPI settler: direct participant of the SPI that provides instant payment settlement service, in its Conta PI, to an indirect participant of the SPI, which may act as an issuing settler or as a receiving settler of instant payments;

X - issuing participant: direct participant that submits the credit order to the SPI for settlement;

XI - receiving participant: direct participant to whose Conta PI the credit order is directed;

XII - acceptance: process of verifying whether the credit order meets the requirements previously established in the SPI regulation for settlement purposes;

XIII - direct connection to the SPI: capacity to send messages to the system and receive them from it, connecting to the National Financial System Network (RSFN) directly or through an Information Technology Service Provider (PSTI);

XIV - National Financial System Network (RSFN): data communication structure, whose purpose is to support information traffic within the scope of the National Financial System (SFN) for authorized services, in accordance with current regulation;

XV - Information Technology Service Provider (PSTI): entity authorized to provide data processing services, for the purpose of access to the RSFN, to institutions authorized to operate by the Central Bank of Brazil, in accordance with current regulation;

XVI - availability index: index that expresses, in percentage, the degree of availability of the SPI for participants, calculated through the following formula:

id = (hf / hp) x 100, where:

id = availability index;

hf = number of hours of actual operation of the SPI, over the last three months;

hp = number of hours in which the SPI should have been open for use by participants, over the last three months;

XVII - idempotency: principle according to which operations can be repeated numerous times, always obtaining the same result;

XVIII - Coordinated Universal Time (UTC): international time standard defined by the International Telecommunication Union.

CHAPTER III

THE SYSTEM

Section I

Purpose

Art. 3. The purpose of the SPI is to enable fund transfers from SPI direct participants, through the Conta PIs.

Sole Paragraph. The obligations related to credit orders, within the scope of the SPI, are settled in real time, operation by operation, and registered through postings in the Conta PIs, in accordance with Chapters V and VI.

Section II

Management and Operation

Art. 4. The SPI is managed and operated by the Central Bank of Brazil, through the Department of Banking Operations and Payment Systems (Deban).

Art. 5. The Central Bank of Brazil, in its capacity as manager and operator of the SPI:

I - executes the credit orders received as formulated by the direct participants of the system, provided that the requirements and procedures provided for in this Regulation and in the technical manuals related thereto are observed;

II - observes the requirements, including security requirements, applicable to situations of receiving and issuing messages;

III - ensures the continuous operation of the SPI, observing the provisions of Art. 8 and the minimum availability index of 99.90% (ninety-nine and ninety hundredths percent), determined according to the calculation methodology established in Art. 2, item XVI; and

IV - provides participants, in the forms defined in this Regulation, as applicable, information regarding:

a) the operation of the SPI, with respect to the inclusion, alteration, and exclusion of participants and any operational notices of interest to participants; and

b) the credit orders issued by them and the other postings registered in their Conta PIs.

Section III

Structure and Connection

Art. 6. The SPI is a technological system connected to the RSFN, with redundancy of physical facilities, processing structures, and communication.

Art. 7. The connection of direct participants to the SPI is made through the RSFN.

§ 1. SPI direct participants connect to the RSFN through the contracting of circuits from independent telecommunications operators that provide the network, or alternatively, through PSTIs authorized by the Central Bank of Brazil.

§ 2. The connection between an indirect participant and its SPI settler, for the purpose of settling instant payment orders, is contractually defined between them, observing applicable legal and regulatory norms.

Section IV

Operating Days and Hours

Art. 8. The SPI is available to participants, for the settlement of credit orders, 24 (twenty-four) hours a day and on all days of the year.

Sole Paragraph. The Central Bank of Brazil may determine a different time than that provided in the main text for other system functionalities that do not involve fund transfers.

Art. 9. When extraordinary events so justify, the Central Bank of Brazil may, with effect for a specific period, determine the temporary suspension of services provided by the SPI, communicating the decision to participants in a timely manner.

Art. 10. The time observed by the Central Bank of Brazil's equipment prevails, within the scope of the SPI, over any other time possibly recorded by direct and indirect participants for all purposes.

Sole Paragraph. The times reported by the SPI and its participants follow the UTC format, unless otherwise provided by the Central Bank of Brazil.

Section V

SPI Monitoring

Art. 11. The monitoring of the SPI is carried out by the Central Bank of Brazil, through Deban and the Department of Information Technology (Deinf).

Sole Paragraph. The Central Bank of Brazil monitors the SPI, in uninterrupted shifts, 24 (twenty-four) hours a day and on all days of the year.

Art. 12. The determinations and instructions of the Central Bank of Brazil to direct participants, due to the monitoring referred to in Art. 11, are considered valid and effective for all purposes regardless of the means by which they are transmitted, which may be the following:

I - recorded telephone communication;

II - message contained in the SFN Services Catalog;

III - institutional e-mail of the Central Bank of Brazil; or

IV - Electronic Mail System of the Central Bank (BC Correio).

CHAPTER IV

PARTICIPANTS

Section I

Participation

Art. 13. Participation in the SPI is:

I - mandatory, for participants of the PIX arrangement, in accordance with the arrangement's regulation, for the purpose of settling instant payments; and

II - optional:

a) for clearinghouses and settlement and clearing service providers, with the sole objective of settling private operations of liquidity provision within the scope of the SPI carried out between their participants; and

b) for the National Treasury Secretariat (STN), with the exclusive purpose of carrying out collections and payments related to its typical activities.

Art. 14. The SPI admits two modalities of participation:

I - direct, characterized by the holding of a Conta PI and direct connection of the participating institution to the SPI; and

II - indirect, in which the participating institution does not have a Conta PI and its participation occurs through a direct participant of the SPI, responsible for registering the indirect participant in the SPI and acting as its settler in the SPI for instant payments.

§ 1. Participation in the indirect modality is prohibited for commercial banks, multiple banks with commercial portfolios, savings banks, clearinghouses, settlement and clearing service providers, and the STN.

§ 2. Participation in the direct modality is prohibited for payment institutions that do not possess an authorization to operate granted by the Central Bank of Brazil.

§ 3. The STN and clearinghouses and settlement and clearing service providers are prohibited from acting as settler in the SPI for indirect participants.

§ 4. Each indirect participant must be associated with a single direct participant settler in the SPI, and the association may be altered in accordance with Art. 16, §§ 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10.

Section II

Representation

Art. 15. Each direct participant of the SPI must register and keep updated the following information:

I - a statutory director or holder of an equivalent administrative position, who, according to the bylaws or articles of association, is responsible for compliance with the norms related to the SPI and the Conta PI or, in the case of the STN, a competent public agent;

II - one to three telephone numbers for contact with those responsible for the management of the Conta PI held by the institution, for bilateral communications related to irregularities or operational emergencies;

III - an institutional e-mail address for receiving SPI bulletins; and

IV - a keyword to be used to verify the authenticity of the contacts referred to in item II.

§ 1. The registration referred to in the main text must be carried out by the direct participant through a specific message of the SFN Services Catalog, filling in the information requested in the message according to the formats defined therein.

§ 2. The sending of a new registration message, in the manner described in § 1, may be done at any time and completely replaces the previously registered information.

§ 3. The director or holder of an equivalent administrative position referred to in item I of the main text must be registered in the Information System on Entities of Interest of the Central Bank (Unicad).

§ 4. The contact telephones referred to in item II must be available for communication 24 (twenty-four) hours a day and on all days of the year.

§ 5. It is the sole responsibility of the direct participant for the accuracy of the information provided, as well as for the maintenance and timely updating of the registration of its responsible parties.

Section III

Rights of Participants

Art. 16. Subject to the procedures provided for in this Regulation and in the norms governing the RSFN, the rights of the SPI direct participant are:

I - to issue and receive instant payments, for the benefit of its clients or clients of indirect participants for whom it acts as settler in the SPI or, in the case of the STN, to issue and receive instant payments related to its typical activities;

II - to receive timely information regarding:

a) the processing of credit orders issued by it;

b) credit orders directed to it;

c) relevant events related to the management of the Conta PI held by it or to the operation of the SPI by the Central Bank of Brazil; and

d) the inclusion, alteration, or exclusion of direct and indirect participants.

III - to receive, upon prior request, information regarding:

a) the balance of the Conta PI held by it, which may refer to the moment of the last update of this information by the SPI or, alternatively, to the moment of the last update of the balance on a previous date, as specified in the request;

b) the details of a specific posting in its Conta PI; and

c) the list of postings in its Conta PI in the maximum interval of 24 (twenty-four) hours.

IV - to register indirect participants for whom it acts as settler in the SPI;

V - to terminate the settlement service provision to indirect participants registered by it, in which situation the indirect participant ceases to participate in the SPI until it is registered by a new direct participant that acts as its settler in the SPI.

§ 1. The orders, information, and records submitted to the SPI, or provided by it, will travel on the RSFN, through specific messages defined in the SFN Services Catalog.

§ 2. The balance referred to in item "a" of item III of the main text will discriminate the following information:

I - blocked portion: sum of the amounts of credit orders being processed by the SPI, for which the blocking referred to in Art. 34 occurred, but which have not yet been settled or rejected in accordance with Arts. 35, 36, and 40; and

II - available portion: total balance maintained in the Conta PI minus the blocked portion referred to in item I.

§ 3. The postings referred to in items "b" and "c" of item III of the main text encompass instant payments in which the participant appeared as issuer, including those settled and those rejected by business rules, as well as those in which the participant appeared as receiver, in addition to the postings registered in its Conta PI resulting from the liquidity provision operations referred to in Chapter VII.

§ 4. The information referred to in item III of the main text will be available for consultation for a maximum period of 5 (five) years.

§ 5. Upon effecting the registration request sent by the direct participant, referred to in item IV of the main text, the SPI registers the indirect participant in the system and links its Identifier in the Brazilian Payment System (ISPB) code to the ISPB of the SPI settler.

§ 6. In the situation described in § 5, if another direct participant attempts to register an indirect participant that is already linked to a settler in the SPI, the system will identify the duplication and suspend the new registration request until the previous settler in the SPI terminates the relationship.

§ 7. While the new registration request remains suspended, the indirect participant will continue to be linked to the previous settler in the SPI.

§ 8. The suspended registration will expire within a period of 24 (twenty-four) hours, if there is no termination of the relationship by the previous settler in the SPI, in which situation the indirect participant will continue to be linked to this settler.

§ 9. In the case of § 8, the SPI settler must promptly inform the Central Bank of Brazil of the reasons that led it not to terminate its relationship with the indirect participant.

§ 10. The provisions of § 6 do not apply to cases where the current direct participant has access to the Conta PI suspended, in accordance with Section V of Chapter V, or has the Conta PI terminated, in accordance with Section VI of Chapter V, situations in which the new registration request will be immediately effected.

Section IV

Duties of Participants

Art. 17. Direct and indirect participants of the SPI have the duty to:

I - observe the provisions of this Regulation, insofar as they apply to them;

II - ensure the security and confidentiality of credit orders issued and received, ensuring that only persons authorized by them have access to the equipment and systems responsible for issuing, receiving, and storing related information, adopting, for this purpose, the necessary control and security procedures;

III - refuse the receipt of an instant payment order, before its settlement, in cases where the beneficiary is not their client, has restrictions on receiving, or, in the case of return of instant payment, the information is incompatible with the original instant payment subject to the return;

IV - prepare their systems to observe the principle of idempotency, defined in Art. 2, item XVII, with respect to messages and operations submitted to the SPI, or provided by it, so that they treat any duplicate requests by repeating the previous response; and

V - observe the other regulations and technical standards issued by the Central Bank of Brazil, insofar as they apply to them.

Art. 18. The SPI direct participant must also:

I - inform the Central Bank of Brazil, immediately, of any irregularity observed by it in the operation of the SPI;

II - remain connected to the SPI, in conditions to issue and receive instant payment orders, 24 (twenty-four) hours a day and on all days of the year;

III - promote adequate management of its Conta PI, maintaining financial resources necessary to support the settlement of credit orders, including those of indirect participants for whom it acts as settler, 24 (twenty-four) hours a day and on all days of the year;

IV - pay timely the tariffs owed by it in accordance with Chapter VIII;

V - maintain, through those responsible for the management of the Conta PI, referred to in Art. 15, the SPI monitoring team at the Central Bank of Brazil constantly informed regarding:

a) occurrences that directly or indirectly affect its financial or operational capacity to settle operations in the SPI;

b) any relevant fact of which it has knowledge with the potential to affect the normal operation of the SPI; and

c) whenever requested, for the purpose of managing risks to the regular operation of the SPI, its operational activities or related to its cash flow, including those related to the provision of liquidity for the Conta PI.

VI - if settler in the SPI:

a) be responsible for attesting to the technological and operational capacity of the indirect participants for whom it provides instant payment settlement services;

b) adopt necessary measures to ensure that the indirect participants for whom it provides instant payment settlement services act in compliance with the provisions of this Regulation;

c) confirm the termination of the relationship with the indirect participant or inform the Central Bank of Brazil of the reasons that led to non-confirmation within the time limit and conditions provided for in Art. 16, §§ 6, 7, 8, and 9; and

d) terminate the relationship with the indirect participant in the event of its suspension or exclusion from the PIX arrangement.

§ 1. The sending by the SPI settler of a registration message of the indirect participant, referred to in Art. 16, item IV, constitutes the attestation of technological and operational capacity of the indirect participant, referred to in item VI, item "a", of the main text.

§ 2. SPI participants are responsible for the accuracy of the data informed in the commands and orders issued by them to the system.

§ 3. The information provided by SPI direct participants within the scope of the monitoring carried out by the Central Bank of Brazil, by any of the communication means referred to in Art. 12, will be considered valid and effective for all purposes.

CHAPTER V

INSTANT PAYMENT ACCOUNT

Section I

Purpose

Art. 19. The Conta PI is intended for the registration, in national currency:

I - of the balance maintained at the Central Bank of Brazil for the purpose of settling operations within the scope of the SPI;

II - of the fund transfers corresponding to the settlement of instant payment orders submitted for processing by the SPI, in accordance with Art. 3; and

III - of the fund transfers corresponding to the settlement of the liquidity provision mechanisms for the Conta PI referred to in Arts. 42 and 43.

Section II

Ownership

Art. 20. The following may be holders of a Conta PI:

I - institutions authorized to operate by the Central Bank of Brazil that participate in the SPI in the direct modality, in accordance with Arts. 13 and 14;

II - clearinghouses and settlement and clearing service providers authorized by the Central Bank of Brazil to provide private liquidity intermediation service, in accordance with Arts. 13 and 14; and

III - the STN, in the case where it opts to participate in the SPI, in accordance with Arts. 13 and 14.

Sole Paragraph. Only one Conta PI per SPI participant is admitted.

Section III