September 14, 2020
São Paulo, September 14, 2020 – UL, the global leader in safety science, announced the launch of a new solution that supports the admission, approval and implementation of indirect payment service providers (PSPs) to the services and technical infrastructure of liquidating banks to integrate the Pix, a solution that opens up new possibilities to the Brazilian people and institutions.
Market context
The Pix, a new ecosystem of instant payments and transfers developed by the Central Bank (BC), will be launched on November 03, with the registration of the keys of access released in the previous month. According to the BC regulation, banks with more than 500,000 active accounts must necessarily join the Pix in this first wave.
On the other hand, financial institutions that are not authorized or that do not choose to connect directly to the BC’s settlement infrastructure (SPI) – called indirect participants – will need to work along with a direct participant, authorized by the BC, i.e., they must connect to a liquidating bank, in case they are interested in being part of the Pix arrangement.
Technical Suitability
To integrate PIX, indirect PSPs must connect to the services and infrastructure of the liquidating banks. The admission must follow the mandatory requirements described in the BC regulation, as well as the availability and documentation of the cybersecurity scripts and APIs. Responsibility for the technical functioning of indirect participants in the Pix lies with the partner banks.
The Central Bank’s Regulation for Pix even provides for a new modality, for the so-called "special liquidator". The "special liquidators" are the institutions with the exclusive character of a "settlement service for other participants, not sending nor receiving a Pix to end users."
"As a first step, UL identifies the needs and objectives of the liquidating banks. Subsequently, we make the strategic alignment, understanding the technical protocols of the banks to open the participation of indirect PSPs and keeping their operations functioning normally," reports Gustavo Correa, commercial director of UL's Identity Management and Security division. "The great benefits for banks are the reduction of time-to-market and the inclusion on a scale of indirect participants with quality and safety."
After the necessary implementations, and the documentation of the APIs and the approval requirements, UL supports the elaboration of the Settlement Test Cases of the SPI (Instant Payment System), of the Test Cases for the DICT Addressing Base (Directory of Identifiers) of Transactional Accounts, the Test Cases for Approval of the indirect PSP application, and the documentation of the functional, security and user experience (UX) requirements.
"The objective is to make the process faster, more accessible and more efficient for liquidating banks," comments Carlos Correia, UL's senior vice president and general manager for Latin America. "Through methodologies, tools and our specialized team, UL assumes a large part of the efforts required for the admission and approval of indirect PSPs, helping ensure their proper functioning at PIX."
About UL
UL helps create a better world by applying science to solve safety, security and sustainability challenges. We empower trust by enabling the safe adoption of innovative new products and technologies. Everyone at UL shares a passion to make the world a safer place. All of our work, from independent research and standards development, to testing and certification, to providing analytical and digital solutions, helps improve global well-being. Businesses, industries, governments, regulatory authorities and the public put their trust in us so they can make smarter decisions. To learn more, visit UL.com. To learn more about our nonprofit activities, visit UL.org.