National Payment System – Transfers – Supplementary Rules – Adjustments

2021 - YEAR OF TRIBUTE TO THE NOBEL PRIZE IN MEDICINE DR. CÉSAR MILSTEIN

CENTRAL BANK
OF THE ARGENTINE REPUBLIC

COMMUNICATION “A” 7409
25/11/2021

TO FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS,
TO ELECTRONIC CLEARING HOUSES,
TO COMPANIES ADMINISTERING AUTOMATED TELLER MACHINE NETWORKS, TO PAYMENT SERVICE PROVIDERS, TO PAYMENT SERVICE PROVIDERS THAT OFFER PAYMENT ACCOUNTS, TO FINANCIAL MARKET INFRASTRUCTURES:

Ref.: Circular
SINAP 1-148:

National Payment System – Transfers. National Payment System – Transfers – supplementary rules. Adjustments

---

We address you to inform you that this Institution adopted the resolution that, in its pertinent part, provides:

“1. Establish that –until 1.3.22– the maximum crediting period defined in point 2.2.12. of the rules on “National Payment System – Transfers” shall be 25 seconds for the case of transfer payments in which interoperability between different payment schemes is necessary for their resolution.

2. Replace points 2.6., 5.2.1., 5.2.3. and 6.3.1. of the rules on “National Payment System – Transfers – supplementary rules” with the following:

“2.6. Fraud mitigation tools: each instant transfer scheme shall have fraud mitigation tools that allow identifying suspicious patterns and alerting users before or after the authorization of the transaction.”

“5.2.1. Acquirers may charge merchants a price within the range defined in point 6.3.1., whether for operations initiated by the acquirer or with a payment request.”

“5.2.3. Every administrator of an instant transfer scheme:

5.2.3.1. Shall ensure that the prices charged by the acquirers participating in its scheme:

i) are within the range established in point 6.3.1.; and

ii) are equal –for each acquirer, but not necessarily between acquirers, in the same scheme– within each type of activity or commercial category, and applying discounts is not permitted.

5.2.3.2. May allow prices lower than those established in point 6.3.1. for transfer payments received by:

i) merchants with signed contracts for which it can be proven indisputably that they were signed prior to the effective date of this communication; and ii) companies exclusively engaged in the out-of-bank collection of taxes and public services on behalf and for the account of third parties.

The BCRA shall exercise its oversight functions by monitoring these prices lower than the maximums to safeguard the stability, efficiency, and security of instant transfers.”

“6.3.1. Acquirers may charge the merchants to which they provide services a price within the range detailed in the table below, as a percentage of the amount of the transaction processed by transfer payment in accordance with Section 3. –the final purchase price–. These fees charged by the acquirer shall entail the payment of an interchange fee in favor of the account provider. The table below establishes merchant categories based on their collection with transfer payment (in accordance with the provisions of point 6.1.2.) and for each of these categories their maximum prices, interchange fees, as well as which participants must assume the payment of the processing prices per transaction. This processing price must be the same for any transaction.

Merchant category	Maximum collection with transfer payment per calendar month per category (mutually exclusive)	Price to be paid by the merchant to the acquirer	Percentage on the price charged by the acquirer to the merchant to be paid to the account provider as interchange fee	Percentage of the transaction processing price to be paid by the account provider	Percentage of the transaction processing price to be paid by the acquirer
Large merchant	No limit	0,6 % to 0,8 %	75 %	75 %	25 %
Medium merchant	500.000 UVA	0,6 % to 0,8 %	50 %	50 %	50 %
Small merchant	100.000 UVA	0,6 % to 0,8 %	25 %	25 %	75 %"

3. Incorporate as points 1.5.1.5. and 1.5.4.4. of the rules on “National Payment System – Transfers – supplementary rules” the following:

“1.5.1.5. Report the information related to electronic funds transfers and transfer payments made between accounts of the same financial institution to the admi-

CENTRAL BANK OF THE ARGENTINE REPUBLIC

nistrator of the payment scheme in which they participate. For this purpose, they must provide for the mechanisms that may be established in due course and identical characteristics to those established for operations between accounts of different entities for the purpose of their registration in the relevant transactional repository.”

“1.5.4.4. Report the information related to electronic funds transfers and transfer payments made between accounts of the same PSP to the administrator of the payment scheme in which they participate. For this purpose, they must provide for the mechanisms that may be established in due course and identical characteristics to those established for operations between accounts of different entities for the purpose of their registration in the relevant transactional repository.”

4. Establish that, before 30.6.22, the administrators of immediate transfer schemes must submit to the Deputy Management of Payment Methods a consensual plan for the implementation of a unified transactional repository that stores all operations regulated in the rules on “National Payment System – Transfers – supplementary rules”, known as “Transfers 3.0”.

Likewise, we inform you that we will subsequently send you the pages that, in replacement of those previously provided, must be incorporated into the referenced rule.

We greet you attentively.

CENTRAL BANK OF THE ARGENTINE REPUBLIC

Luis A. D’Orio
Principal Manager of Payment Systems and Current Accounts Julio César Pando Deputy General Manager of Payment Methods