National Payment System – Transfers – Supplementary Rules: Update

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

COMMUNICATION “A” 7361
08/09/2021

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

Ref.: Circular
SINAP 1-139:

National Payment System – Transfers. National Payment System – Transfers – Supplementary Rules. Update.

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We address you in order to send you in annex the sheets that, in replacement of those previously provided, should be incorporated into the rules on “National Payment System – Transfers” and “National Payment System – Transfers – Supplementary Rules” based on the provisions disseminated through Communications “B” 12146 and “C” 90569, respectively.

Finally, it is recalled that on the website of this Institution www.bcra.gob.ar, by accessing “Financial System – LEGAL AND REGULATORY FRAMEWORK – Compilations and summaries – Ordered texts of general regulations”, you will find the modifications made with texts highlighted in special characters (strikethrough and bold).

We greet you attentively.

CENTRAL BANK OF THE ARGENTINE REPUBLIC

Matías A. Gutiérrez Girault
Manager of Payment
Systems
Luis A. D’Orio
Principal Manager of Payment Systems and Current Accounts

ANNEX

B.C.R.A. NATIONAL PAYMENT SYSTEM – TRANSFERS
Section 2. Immediate transfers

2.1. Introduction and objective

2.1.1. The purpose of this section is to define the operational instructions related to immediate transfers.

2.1.2. Immediate transfers shall have the objective of providing customers with a transfer service that debits and credits the amount instantly – which improves customer service through the application of international standards – contributing to the security and efficiency of the national payment system.

2.2. Characteristics

2.2.1. The immediate transfer service must be made available to their customers by all financial institutions and PSPs that offer payment accounts.

2.2.2. Financial institutions shall enable, at a minimum, the following electronic channels for the immediate transfer service:

− Automated Teller Machine

− Mobile Banking (MB)

− Internet Banking (IB)

2.2.3. Time availability: immediate transfers may be ordered by the customer 24 hours a day, every day of the year.

2.2.4. Minimum limits: immediate transfers may be made per day and per account without the need for special requests at least up to the amounts detailed in Section 6. of the rules “National Payment System – Transfers – Supplementary Rules”. Financial institutions may not establish limits lower than those indicated above, without prejudice to the fact that they may increase them. Additionally, for cases in which they need it for specific operations, customers may request – remotely or in person – the temporary extension of such limits, prior to the execution of the transfer. The temporary extension of limits to make transfers is a service that – by analogy – must be available for electronic payments that involve transfers of funds. In particular, it must be contemplated for the payment of Electronic Payment Slips (VEP) and the loading of the “AFIP electronic wallet”, in such a way as to facilitate compliance with the provisions of Law 27605 and General Resolution No. 4930/21 of the Federal Administration of Public Revenue.

2.2.5. Prices to customers: immediate transfers shall be subject to the price scheme to customers detailed in Sections 5. and 6. of the rules “National Payment System – Transfers – Supplementary Rules”.

2.2.6. Security: in accordance with the provisions of the rules on “Minimum requirements for management, implementation and control of risks related to computer technology, information management and associated resources for financial institutions”, financial institutions must satisfy the technical-operational security requirements established in Section 6.

B.C.R.A. NATIONAL PAYMENT SYSTEM – TRANSFERS
Section 2. Immediate transfers

2.2.7. Constitution and settlement of guarantees: the provisions stipulated by the BCRA in the regulations corresponding to the immediate transfers product shall apply.

2.2.8. Cut-off times for clearing: the cut-off times of the operation, intended to clear the amounts in the accounts of financial institutions, shall be defined by the administrator of each immediate funds transfer scheme.

2.2.9. Currencies: immediate transfers shall be available in pesos and US dollars; between accounts of the same currency.

2.2.10. Query of active accounts: in order to avoid errors in identifying the receiving accounts, as well as to verify the enablement of the destination account at the time of authorization of an immediate transfer, each payment scheme must make available to its participants a query service for active accounts.

2.2.11. Queuing of transactions: it shall not be allowed for ‘Payment with transfer’, the payment request, nor the withdrawals defined in Section 3. of the rules “National Payment System – Transfers – Supplementary Rules” and shall be admissible for immediate transfers with the agreement of the ordering customer. The queuing of an immediate transfer may only be determined at the time of its authorization; after the determination of the queuing of the transaction, the payment schemes shall determine the flow to follow.

2.2.12. Accreditation periods: the resolution of each immediate transfer must be carried out in no more than 15 seconds, including the confirmation or rejection notifications to the ordering and receiving customers as applicable.

2.2.13. Transaction audit: each transfer scheme shall implement the necessary means so that, in the event of a failure in a transfer, it can identify the point of failure and take corrective actions pre-established in each case and leave the transaction resolved immediately. Corrective actions must always be resolved within the scheme itself.

2.2.14. In accordance with the preceding points, the authorization function for immediate transfers shall consider, among others, the availability of sufficient funds in the originating account, daily limits, the matching of the currency of the accounts, the availability of sufficient guarantee funds, the enabling of the destination account, the need for queuing and fraud mitigation tools. Regarding the availability of sufficient funds in the originating account, this may be determined by the account provider strictly based on the available balance at that instant in the payment account, or, in the case of demand accounts at financial institutions, the available balance plus pre-agreed credit lines; it shall not be possible to authorize an immediate transfer based on the expectation of future credits to the account, even when these occur on the same day or are under the full control of the same account provider. The administrators of immediate transfer schemes must monitor authorization patterns, in order to prevent any type of discrimination towards certain acceptors or originating entities, providing in their contracts for the application of fines when they detect such non-compliances. The administrators must also provide in their contracts for fines charged to account providers, whether financial institutions or PSPs, when the authorization of immediate transfers does not occur in the time and manner set forth in the regulations.

Version: 9th. COMMUNICATION “A” 7361 Effective:
09/09/2021
Page
2

B.C.R.A. ORIGIN OF THE PROVISIONS CONTAINED IN THE RULES ON “NATIONAL PAYMENT SYSTEM. TRANSFERS”

ORDERED TEXT	SOURCE RULE	OBSERVATIONS
Sect.	Point	Para.	Com.	Annex or Chapter	Point	Para.
1.	1.1.		“A” 2559	Transfers of customers or third parties			S/Com. “A” 3014, 5113 and 7153.
	1.2.1.		“A” 2559	“			S/Com. “A” 3014 and 5113.
	1.2.2.		“A” 2559	“			S/Com. “A” 3014 and 5113.
	1.2.3.		“A” 2559	“			S/Com. “A” 3014, 5113 and “B” 11318.
	1.2.4.		“A” 2559	“			S/Com. “A” 3014, 5113 and 7153.
	1.3.1.		“A” 2559	“			S/Com. “A” 3014 and 5113.
	1.3.2.		“A” 2559	“			S/Com. “A” 3014, 5113 and “B” 11318.
	1.3.3.		“A” 2559	“			S/Com. “A” 3014 and 5113.
	1.3.4.		“A” 2559	“			S/Com. “A” 3014 and 5113.
	1.3.5.		“A” 2559	“			S/Com. “A” 3014 and 5113.
	1.3.6.		“A” 2559	“			S/Com. “A” 3014, 3101, 4229, 5113 and “B” 11318.
	1.4.1.		“B” 11318	“
	1.4.2.		“A” 2559	“			S/Com. “A” 3014 and 5113.
	1.4.3.		“A” 2559	“			S/Com. “A” 3014, 5113 and “B” 11318.
	1.4.4		“A” 2559	“			S/Com. “A” 3014, 5113 and “B” 11318.
	1.5.1.		“A” 2559	“			S/Com. “A” 3014, 5113 and “B” 11318.
	1.5.2.		“A” 2559	“			S/Com. “A” 3014 and 5113.
	1.6.1.		“A” 2559	“			S/Com. “A” 3014 and 5113.
	1.6.2.		“A” 2559	“			S/Com. “A” 3014 and 5113.
	1.7.1.		“A” 2559	“			S/Com. “A” 3014, 5113 and “B” 11318.
	1.7.2.		“A” 2559	“			S/Com. “A” 3014, 4229, 5113 and “B” 11318.
	1.7.3.		“A” 2559	“			S/Com. “A” 3014, 4229, 5113, 6242, 6512, 6551, 7153 and “B” 11318.
	1.7.4.		“A” 2559	“			S/Com. “A” 3014, 4229, 5113 and “B” 11318.
	1.7.5.		“A” 2559	“			S/Com. “A” 3014, 4229, 5113 and “B” 11318.
	1.7.6.		“A” 2559	“			S/Com. “A” 3014 and 5113.
	1.7.7.		“A” 2559	“			S/Com. “A” 3014 and 5113.
	1.7.8.		“A” 2559	“			S/Com. “A” 3014, 5113 and “B” 11318.
2.	2.1.		“A” 5195	“			S/Com. “A” 5780 and 7153
	2.2.		“A” 5195	“			S/Com. “A” 5230, 5302, 5780, 5927, 5990, 6235, 6242, 6512, 6551, 6679, 7153, “B” 12146 and “C” 80495.
	2.3.		“A” 5195	“			S/Com. “A” 5302 and 7153.
3.	3.1.		“A” 2559				S/Com. “A” 5195 and 7153.
	3.2.		“A” 2559				S/Com. "A" 5195, 6671 and 7153.
4.			"A" 5982				S/Com. "A" 7153.
5.	5.1.		"A" 5195				S/Com. "A" 7153 and 7175.
	5.2.		"A" 5195				S/Com. "A" 7153 and 7175.
	5.3.		"A" 5195				S/Com. "A" 7072, 7153 and 7175.

-Index-

Section 1. Electronic funds transfers. Basic concepts

1.1. Introduction and objective

1.2. General provisions

1.3. Functions of electronic funds transfer schemes

1.4. Participants and customers of electronic funds transfer schemes

1.5. General responsibilities of participants

1.6. Oversight

Section 2. Instant transfers

Section 3. Instant transfers: Transfer-based payment, payment request and withdrawals

3.1. General considerations

3.2. Transfer-based payment, initiation by the acceptor

3.3. Transfer-based payment request

3.4. Cash withdrawals

Section 4. Standardized Payment Interface (SPI)

Section 5. Electronic funds transfers, business rules

5.1. General definitions

5.2. Payment by transfer

5.3. Withdrawals

Section 6. Electronic funds transfers: operational variables, prices and interchange rates

6.1. Minimum limits and equivalences with Units of Purchasing Value (UVA)

6.2. Initial free tier

6.3. Payment by transfer, prices and interchange rates

6.4. Valid grounds for rejection by the receiving entity for transactions in foreign currency

6.5. Participants in electronic funds transfer schemes with special status for the purposes of their treatment by administrators

6.6. Approximate equivalences in pesos of the amounts expressed in UVA

B.C.R.A.
NATIONAL PAYMENT SYSTEM – TRANSFERS –
SUPPLEMENTARY RULES
Section 6. Electronic funds transfers: operational variables, prices and
interchange rates.

6.1. Minimum limits and equivalences with Units of Purchasing Value (UVA)

6.1.1. Immediate transfers may be made without the need for special requests up to the amount equivalent to 15,000 UVA as a minimum for transactions in pesos per day and per account (in accordance with the provisions of point 6.1.2.), and for 12,500 US dollars or euros for transactions denominated in those currencies, always per day and per account.

6.1.2. The approximate equivalence in pesos of the amounts expressed in UVA in this consolidated text, as well as any modification to the parameters expressed in this section in UVA, US dollars or euros, shall be published by the BCRA three times a year, in the months of March, July and November and set out in the table in point 6.6.

6.2. Initial free tier

6.2.1. 'Payer customer pays': the accumulated amount of the initial tier referred to in point 5.1.4.1. in which electronic funds transfers shall be free for payer customers is equivalent to 7,500 UVA for transactions in pesos, and to 6,000 US dollars or euros for transactions in these currencies (in accordance with the provisions of point 6.1.2.), always on an accumulated basis per calendar month, per currency and per account provider.

6.2.2. 'Payee customer pays': the accumulated amount of the initial tier referred to in point 5.1.5. in which electronic funds transfers shall be free for payee customers is equivalent to 1,000 UVA for transactions in pesos, and to 1,000 US dollars or euros for transactions in these currencies (in accordance with the provisions of point 6.1.2.).

6.3. Payment by Transfer, prices and interchange rates

6.3.1. Acquirers may charge merchants to which they provide services a maximum of the price detailed in the table below, as a percentage of the amounts received by merchants through 'Payment by transfer', in accordance with Section 3. These fees charged by the acquirer shall entail the payment of an interchange rate in favor of the account provider. The table below establishes merchant categories based on their collection with 'Payment by transfer' (in accordance with the provisions of point 6.1.2), and for each of these categories their maximum prices, interchange rates, as well as which participants must bear the payment of the per-transaction processing prices. This processing price must be the same for any transaction.

B.C.R.A.
NATIONAL PAYMENT SYSTEM – TRANSFERS –
SUPPLEMENTARY RULES
Section 6. Electronic funds transfers: operational variables, prices and
interchange rates

6.5. Participants in electronic funds transfer schemes with special status for the purposes of their treatment by administrators National Social Security Administration.

6.6. Approximate equivalences in pesos of the amounts expressed in UVA

The following table details the approximate equivalences in pesos of the amounts expressed in UVA, in accordance with the provisions of point 6.1.2.:

Point of the rule	Concept	UVA	Approximate equivalence in pesos ($) as of 31.7.21
6.1.	Minimum daily limit	15,000	1,257,000
6.2.1.	Initial free tier – 'Payer customer pays'	7,500	628,000
6.2.2.	Initial free tier – 'Payee customer pays'	1,000	83,000
6.3.1.	Medium merchant. Maximum collection per calendar month and per category	500,000	41,910,000
6.3.1.	Small merchant. Maximum collection per calendar month and per category	100,000	8,382,000
UVA value as of 31.7.21: $ 83.82

B.C.R.A.

ORIGIN OF THE PROVISIONS CONTAINED IN THE RULES ON 'NATIONAL PAYMENT SYSTEM – TRANSFERS – SUPPLEMENTARY RULES'

ORDERED TEXT	SOURCE STANDARD	OBSERVATIONS
Sect.	Point	Para.	Comm.	Annex or Chapter	Point	Para.
1.	1.1.		“A” 7153
	1.2.		“A” 7153
	1.3.		“A” 7153
	1.4.		“A” 7153
	1.5.		“A” 7153
	1.6.		“A” 7153
2.	2.0.		“A” 7153
3.	3.1.		“A” 7153
	3.2.		“A” 7153
	3.3.		“A” 7153
	3.4.		“A” 7153
4.	4.0.		“A” 7153
5.	5.1.		“A” 7153
	5.2.		“A” 7153
	5.3.		“A” 7153
6.	6.1.		“A” 7153				S/Comm. “A” 7361
	6.2.		“A” 7153
	6.3.		“A” 7153
	6.4.		“A” 7153
	6.5.		“A” 7153
	6.6.		“C” 89549				S/Comm. “C” 90569.
7.	7.1.		“A” 7153
	7.2.		“A” 7153