Trio Pagamentos will offer contactless Pix

Contactless payments built on NFC technology could replace credit cards

In early August, the Central Bank of Brazil published Resoluções BCB nº 406 and 407, the Central Bank rules that set out how the Pix journey without redirection to the customer’s banking app works. The change aims to simplify Pix payment initiation (Pix is Brazil’s instant payment system), cutting steps in online payments and allowing Pix to be used in digital wallets, including contactless payments using NFC technology.

Trio Pagamentos is following the regulation closely so it can keep offering the simplest technology for Pix payments as Open Finance evolves.

This new journey offers a smoother experience, letting consumers pay from a previously linked digital wallet without having to open their financial institution’s app to reach the Pix area. Using the security standards required by Open Finance, this technology offers a more practical and secure way to pay directly through:

1. Payment links for online purchases;
2. QR codes displayed on POS terminals (card machines).

When can we expect it?

Implementing this feature will be mandatory from November 2024 for the production testing phase, with a broad rollout in February 2025.

This deadline applies to all Payment Institutions. For more information, visit the Central Bank of Brazil’s website.

Getting started with contactless Pix is easy

To pay with contactless Pix, the consumer needs a device with built-in NFC technology. With that in place, contactless Pix must be built into the consumer’s wallet, whether Apple Pay, Google Pay, Samsung Pay or others. At that point, instead of adding a credit card to the wallet, the consumer links their bank account through the bank’s app. Once linked, transactions become much easier: with biometrics or facial recognition.

In short:

Step 1: Linking the account

The customer consents to linking their account to an electronic device by authenticating in the financial institution’s environment. This includes generating security credentials on the customer’s device.

Step 2: The payment transaction

During a transaction, the financial institution uses the security credentials to authenticate the customer, running the applicable security checks. The transaction is confirmed in the payment initiator’s environment.

These steps deliver a faster, more secure payment experience, simplifying Pix for the consumer and removing the need for a credit card altogether.

Differences between Tap-to-Pay and Tap2Pix

Contactless payment is already well known outside Brazil, where it is called Tap-to-Pay. Along the same lines, Brazil is developing Tap2Pix, a name that refers to the new contactless Pix.

Tap-to-Pay is a well-established technology in which consumers pay by holding their mobile devices (smartphones, smartwatches) or NFC-enabled credit or debit cards near a compatible payment terminal. The method is widely used in many parts of the world and is supported by digital wallets such as Apple Pay, Google Pay and Samsung Pay.

Tap2Pix is an evolution or adaptation of the Tap-to-Pay concept for Brazil’s Pix payment system. The idea is that users can pay with Pix simply by holding their phone near an NFC terminal, with no need to scan a QR code. Although the concept is similar to Tap-to-Pay, the Pix implementation aims to bring in the convenience and popularity of the Central Bank of Brazil’s instant payment system.

The Tap-to-Pay market is projected to grow 150% in the US by 2028. In Brazil, there are no reliable forecasts yet for Tap2Pix adoption, but Pix payments hit a new growth record last year: up 75%, reaching R$17.2 trillion.

At Trio, the system should go live as soon as the Central Bank’s APIs are released. Get in touch if you want to add contactless Pix to your business in record time.