2026-03-31
The Bank of the Republic issues this circular to replace DSP-471 and modify the transition deadlines for operational rules regarding the unavailability of Low-Value Immediate Payment Systems and the Operational Mechanism for Settlement (MOL). The document establishes the comprehensive regulatory framework, definitions, and operational characteristics for the MOL, which enables real-time gross settlement of immediate payment orders against participants' deposit accounts. It details the procedures for linking entities and participants to the system, including access requirements, testing protocols, and liquidity management parameters.
Document No: OT/PF/MAR/2026/128184 Page 20 - 00 Recipient: Administrators of Low-Value Immediate Payment Systems and Participants of Low-Value Immediate Payment Systems. Subject 20: Regulation of the Operational Mechanism for Settlement (MOL)
This Circular replaces Operational and Services External Circular DSP-471 of March 5, 2026, corresponding to Subject 20 "REGULATION OF THE OPERATIONAL MECHANISM FOR SETTLEMENT (MOL)" of the corporate manual of the Payment Systems Department.
The Circular is replaced to modify the transition deadlines of section 19.2 and Annex 4 regarding the operational rules in scenarios of unavailability of a Low-Value Immediate Payment System and the Operational Mechanism for Settlement (MOL), respectively.
Sincerely,
MARCELA OCAMPO DUQUE Executive Manager
DIONISIO VALDIVIESO BURBANO Deputy Manager of Payment Systems and Banking Operations
OPERATIONAL AND SERVICES EXTERNAL CIRCULAR DSP-471 DEPARTMENT OF PAYMENT SYSTEMS Date: Tuesday, March 31, 2026
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OPERATIONAL AND SERVICES EXTERNAL CIRCULAR DSP-471 Date: Tuesday, March 31, 2026 Subject 20: Regulation of the Operational Mechanism for Settlement (MOL)
The MOL allows settling Immediate Payment Orders and/or Immediate Fund Transfers (Immediate OP/TF) against the Deposit Accounts that Participants of Low-Value Immediate Payment Systems maintain at the Bank of the Republic. The MOL also generates movement reports, has an alert mechanism, and a functionality for Participants to manage resources for the Settlement of Immediate OP/TF.
• Beneficiary: Client recipient of the resources subject to an Immediate Payment Order and/or Immediate Fund Transfer. • Client: as defined in letter a) of article 2 of Law 1328 of 2009 and the norms that modify, replace, or regulate it. • Deposit Account: account in Colombian legal tender that Participants have open at the Bank of the Republic, in accordance with what is provided in Internal Resolution No. 3 of 2015 of the Board of Directors of the Bank of the Republic or those that modify, add to, or replace it, its regulatory provisions, and other applicable norms. • Deposit Account Linked to the Operational Mechanism for Settlement: Deposit Account selected by a Direct Participant to provision resources destined for the Settlement of its Immediate Payment Orders and/or Immediate Fund Transfers or those of an Indirect Participant, through the Operational Mechanism for Settlement. • Entities Administrating Low-Value Immediate Payment Systems (EASPBVI): are the entities administering low-value payment systems defined in section 7 of article 2.17.1.1.1. of Decree 2555 of 2010, or the norms that replace, modify, or regulate it, that administer a Low-Value Immediate Payment System.
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OPERATIONAL AND SERVICES EXTERNAL CIRCULAR DSP-471 Date: Tuesday, March 31, 2026 Subject 20: Regulation of the Operational Mechanism for Settlement (MOL)
• Settlement: is the process carried out by the Entity Administrating Low-Value Immediate Payment Systems, through which the Deposit Accounts at the Bank of the Republic are debited or credited, to fulfill the Immediate Payment Orders and/or Immediate Fund Transfers. • Operational Mechanism for Settlement (MOL): service provided by the Bank of the Republic to process the Settlement instructions of the Immediate Payment Orders and/or Immediate Fund Transfers sent by Low-Value Immediate Payment Systems. • Payment Medium: deposit product from which the Immediate Payment Orders and/or Immediate Fund Transfers are debited or credited. • Originator: Client who initiates an Immediate Payment Order and/or Immediate Fund Transfer to debit resources from their Payment Medium. • Immediate Payment Order and/or Immediate Fund Transfer (Immediate OP/TF): is the instruction given in Low-Value Immediate Payment Systems by an Originator on any day and hour to debit resources from their Payment Medium and credit them to the Payment Medium of a Beneficiary in real time, according to the characteristics established in External Regulatory Circular DSP-465 issued by the Bank of the Republic. • Participant: as defined in section 16 of article 2.17.1.1.1. of Decree 2555 of 2010 or the norms that replace, modify, or regulate it, that process Immediate Payment Orders and/or Immediate Fund Transfers. • Direct Participant: is the Participant authorized to have a Deposit Account contract with the Bank of the Republic. • Indirect Participant: is the Participant who, through an agreement with a Direct Participant, can use a Deposit Account owned by the latter, exclusively for the purpose of linking it to the Operational Mechanism for Settlement and provisioning it with resources for the Settlement of its Immediate Payment Orders and/or Immediate Fund Transfers. • Originating Participant: is the Participant where the Originator has their Payment Medium from which they originate an Immediate Payment Order and/or Immediate Fund Transfer in a Low-Value Immediate Payment System. • Receiving Participant: is the Participant where the Beneficiary has their Payment Medium to receive resources from an Immediate Payment Order and/or Immediate Fund Transfer in a Low-Value Immediate Payment System. • Deposit Account System (CUD): is the High-Value Payment System of the Bank of the Republic, defined and regulated in External Regulatory Circular DSP-158, and the norms that modify, add to, or replace it. • Low-Value Immediate Payment Systems (SPBVI): are low-value payment systems defined in section 22 of article 2.17.1.1.1. of Decree 2555 of
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2010 or the norms that replace, modify, or regulate it, that provide services related to Immediate Payment Orders and/or Immediate Fund Transfers.
Regulatory Framework The operation of the MOL, as well as the rights, obligations, and responsibilities of the Bank of the Republic, the EASPBVI, and the Participants, are governed by what is provided in articles 12, 13, 16, and 22 of Law 31 of 1992 and in articles 12, 13, and 23 of the Statutes of the Bank adopted via Decree 2520 of 1993, article 104 of Law 2294 of 2023, External Resolution No. 6 of 2023 of the Board of Directors of the Bank of the Republic, Book 17 of Decree 2555 of 2010, the Operational Regulation of the Interbank Clearing Service of the Bank of the Republic, External Regulatory Circular DSP-465 corresponding to Subject 18 "Interoperability of low-value immediate payment systems" and the Operational and Services External Circulars DSP-157 corresponding to Subject 7 "Deposit Accounts", DSP-158 corresponding to Subject 8 "Deposit Account System" and DSP-272 corresponding to Subject 16 "Fees for the administration of Deposit Accounts, for operations in the CUD and centralized modules of immediate payments", issued by the Bank of the Republic, the norms that modify, complement, replace, or regulate them, and by the Deposit Account contract.
General Characteristics The MOL allows for the gross and real-time settlement of Immediate OP/TF. To this end, the MOL processes individually and immediately the Settlement instructions of the Immediate OP/TF sent by the SPBVI. Settlement is executed against the resources of the Participants available in the Deposit Accounts Linked to the MOL.
MOL Users The following are users of the MOL:
The EASPBVI: are users of the MOL when through it the Settlement instructions of the Immediate OP/TF of their Participants are processed. The EASPBVI are identified before the MOL with the abbreviations established in the "MOL Technical Specifications Document", which will be sent by the Bank of the Republic to the EASPBVI in their process of linking to said centralized module and when modifications are made.
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OPERATIONAL AND SERVICES EXTERNAL CIRCULAR DSP-471 Date: Tuesday, March 31, 2026 Subject 20: Regulation of the Operational Mechanism for Settlement (MOL)
The Participants: are users of the MOL when through it their Immediate OP/TF are settled. Participants are also users of the MOL when through it they manage the resources necessary for the Settlement of Immediate OP/TF. Direct Participants are identified before the MOL with the Tax Identification Number (NIT). If a Direct Participant requires more than one identification in the MOL, the Bank of the Republic will assign them an identification code, which will be informed to them in the response to the request that the Participant makes for the linking of the Deposit Accounts to the MOL. Indirect Participants are identified before the MOL with the NIT or with the identification code assigned by the Bank of the Republic.
Operational Characteristics of the MOL The MOL has the following operational characteristics available for the EASPBVI: • API-REST Connection for the processing of the Settlement instructions of the Immediate OP/TF of their Participants. • Report of debit and credit movements of the Settlement instructions processed in the MOL. The structure of this report and sending conditions will be those established in this Circular.
The MOL has the following operational characteristics available for the Participants: • Settlement of Immediate OP/TF. • Management of the resources of the Deposit Accounts Linked to the MOL (Transfers to provision or withdraw liquidity). • Sending of the daily report of the movements corresponding to Immediate OP/TF that affected the Deposit Accounts Linked to the MOL. Sending of the report with the movements associated with provisioning and balance synchronization between the MOL and the Deposit Account System (CUD). • Configuration of alert on the balance of the Deposit Accounts Linked to the MOL.
The output formats and sending of information, among other operational conditions of the MOL, will be those established in this Circular.
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Regarding the Settlement of Immediate OP/TF, from the Deposit Account System (CUD), Participants will be able to: • Register and control the liquidity parameters referred to in section 9.1 of this Circular, according to what is defined in Operational and Services External Circular DSP-158. • Consult, at the close of the operating day of the Deposit Account System (CUD), the balance of the Deposit Account Linked to the MOL, which is integrated by the balance of the resources backing the operations of the Deposit Account System (CUD) and the balance of the resources in the MOL backing the Immediate OP/TF.
6.1. Schedules and Support The MOL operates 24 hours a day, seven (7) days a week, 365 days a year (24/7/365). The Bank of the Republic will provide technical support 24/7/365 through the email address admimol@banrep.gov.co and the telephone lines available at Telephone Attention | Bank of the Republic.
In leap years, the MOL will also operate on February 29, and the Bank of the Republic will provide technical support on that date.
The registration and control of the liquidity parameters referred to in section 9.1 of this Circular, as well as the execution of manual assignments from the general resources of the Deposit Accounts that back the operations of the Deposit Account System (CUD) to the MOL, are carried out in the Deposit Account System (CUD) according to the schedules established in Operational and Services External Circular DSP-158 corresponding to Subject 8 "Deposit Account System".
The Bank of the Republic may, temporarily, suspend the MOL service or modify the schedules provided in this regulation for: i) force majeure or fortuitous event reasons, or ii) when there are reasons that, in the judgment of the Bank of the Republic, justify it. When possible, the Bank of the Republic will previously communicate to the EASPBVI and the Participants the date on which the respective suspension or schedule modification will occur, indicating the operating conditions that apply, according to the case.
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The EASPBVI that during Phase 3 defined in section 9 of External Regulatory Circular DSP-465 have initiated the process of linking to the centralized modules for the interoperability of immediate payments must continue it according to what is provided in the aforementioned Annex, according to the stage in which they are.
7.2. Access of Participants to the MOL The access of Participants to the MOL is achieved through the linking of a Deposit Account to the MOL. For this effect, it is necessary that the Participant has a Deposit Account created and active, according to what is regulated in Operational and Services External Circular DSP-157, and that they have signed the addendum to their Deposit Account contract to authorize the affectation of the Deposit Account with Immediate OP/TF.
Below, the diagram of the access of Participants to the MOL is presented, which is described below (the sections of this diagram correspond to the sections of this Circular that describe each stage):
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7.2.1. Request for access to the MOL and linking of the Deposit Account to the MOL a) Request for linking of the Deposit Account to the MOL for a Direct Participant A Direct Participant may link one of their Deposit Accounts to the MOL for the purposes of the Settlement of their Immediate OP/TF.
For this effect, the Direct Participant must send to the email address admimol@banrep.gov.co the request for access to the MOL and the linking of one of their Deposit Accounts to the MOL, according to the model included in Annex 2 of this Circular. Along with this request, the Direct Participant must send the Confidentiality Commitment included in Annex 3 of this Circular, duly signed by their legal representative.
When the Direct Participant requires more than one identification in the MOL, and therefore another Deposit Account to link to the MOL for the Settlement of their Immediate OP/TF, they must make this linking request according to the model included in Annex 2 of this Circular. The Bank of the Republic will assign them an additional identification code and associate it with the respective Deposit Account. In the response to the request, the Bank of the Republic will inform the assigned code and its use.
Participant EASPBVI Department of Payment Systems of BanRep Department of Information Technology Services of BanRep 7.2.1. Requests access to MOL and the linking of deposit account to MOL 7.2.2. Evaluates request 7.2.3. Links Deposit Account to MOL for tests 7.2.4. Executes tests with the SPBVI 7.2.5. Notifies certification of successful tests of the Participant to BanRep 7.2.6. Notifies to BanRep authorization of affectation of deposit account by the SPBVI 7.2.7. Trains the Participant 7.2.8. Enables liquidity parameters in CUD and links Deposit Account to MOL in production 7.2.3. Configures the Participant in test environments 7.2.9. Confirms access to the MOL and linking of deposit account to MOL 7.2.8. Configures the Participant in production environments
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The request for opening a new Deposit Account to be linked to the MOL for the Settlement of Immediate OP/TF of the Direct Participant, must be carried out in accordance with what is established in Chapter II, section 5, of Operational and Services External Circular DSP-157.
b) Linking of the Deposit Account to the MOL for an Indirect Participant An Indirect Participant, through an agreement with a Direct Participant, may link to the MOL a Deposit Account owned by the Direct Participant, for the purposes of the Settlement of the Immediate OP/TF of the Indirect Participant.
For this, the Direct Participant must send to the email admimol@banrep.gov.co the request for access to the MOL and the linking of one of their Deposit Accounts to the MOL according to the model included in Annex 2 of this Circular, incorporating the information of the respective Indirect Participant. Along with this request, the Direct Participant must send (i) the Unified Tax Registry (RUT) of the Indirect Participant and (ii) the certificate of existence and legal representation of the Indirect Participant with an issuance date less than thirty (30) calendar days.
With the presentation to the Bank of the Republic of the request for linking of the Deposit Account to the MOL for an Indirect Participant, the Bank of the Republic understands that, in the agreement between the Direct Participant and the Indirect Participant, the latter has authorized the Direct Participant to make this request for linking of the Deposit Account for the Settlement of Immediate OP/TF of the Indirect Participant.
The Deposit Account linked to the MOL for the Settlement of Immediate OP/TF of an Indirect Participant must be different from that defined by the Direct Participant for the Settlement of the Immediate OP/TF of the latter, as well as from those Deposit Accounts owned by the Direct Participant that have been linked to the MOL for the Settlement of Immediate OP/TF of other Indirect Participants.
The request for opening a new Deposit Account to be linked to the MOL for the Settlement of Immediate OP/TF of an Indirect Participant, must be carried out in accordance with what is established in Chapter II, section 5, of Operational and Services External Circular DSP-157.
7.2.2. Evaluation of the request In case of meeting the requirements, the Bank of the Republic will respond to the request, through a communication sent to the email account(s) of the Direct Participant(s) provided in the linking request. A copy of this communication will be sent to the Indirect Participant (if applicable).
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In case the request is denied, the communication will indicate the reason. The Participant may remedy the unmet requirements and resubmit the request.
7.2.3. Configuration of the Participant in test environments In case the request is accepted, the Bank of the Republic, for testing purposes only, will carry out the linking of the Deposit Account to the MOL and the configuration of the Participant in the test environment.
After the above, the Bank of the Republic will send to the email account(s) of the Direct Participant a communication, attaching the following documents: • Letter of confirmation of the linking of the Deposit Account to the MOL for testing purposes. • Structure and example of the end-of-day movement file for reconciliation.
In applicable cases, a copy of this communication will be sent to the Indirect Participant.
7.2.4. Execution of tests with the EASPBVI For the purposes of executing the tests, the Participant must coordinate the pertinent matters with the EASPBVI linked to the centralized modules for the interoperability of the Immediate OP/TF. The tests must include the Key Management and Resolution processes and the processing of Immediate OP/TF. The EASPBVI must request the Bank of the Republic to enable the test environments so that the Participant can execute them. This request must be sent to the email addresses admidice@banrep.gov.co and admimol@banrep.gov.co, indicating the name of the Participant for whom the test environments need to be enabled. A copy of the request must be sent to the Participant. The Bank of the Republic will validate that the Participant has met the requirements referred to in the previous sections and that they have been confirmed the linking of the Deposit Account to the MOL for testing purposes. If so, the Bank of the Republic will coordinate with the EASPBVI and the Participant the time window to enable the test environments for the Participant.
a) Execution of tests in case of linking of a Participant to another SPBVI When a Participant decides to unlink from an SPBVI and link to another, or that maintaining their link to an SPBVI decides to link simultaneously to another, the Participant must send a communication to the email addresses admidice@banrep.gov.co and admimol@banrep.gov.co,
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notifying that they will begin tests