💳 Will Brazil retire credit cards?

ECONOMY

Pix instant payments are coming for credit cards

Brazil’s Central Bank is expanding the country’s wildly successful instant payment system, Pix, introducing new features that could further displace traditional credit and debit cards — a development that major financial players are monitoring closely.

As of next week, users will be able to schedule recurring payments by way of “Automatic Pix,” a feature akin to AutoPay in the United States. While similar options already exist for paying utility bills, the Pix version will extend to subscriptions traditionally linked to credit cards — such as streaming services and digital platforms.

This innovation could significantly broaden access to scheduled payments. Despite the number of credit cards exceeding the population — 235 million active cards in a country of 203 million — nearly 60 million Brazilians remain excluded from the credit card system…

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