Despite the Central Bank’s firm announcement that interoperability for QR payments with debit or credit cards would begin to work on April 30, in practice the measure will not work. Businesses with QR readers provided by Mercado Pago They will still not accept payments with cards loaded in another wallet, given that the Mercado Libre financial company will not open its system. The negotiations with the banks were not successful and the BCRA rule, for the moment, will not be applied.
“We are technically ready to operate. But Mercado Pago does not give us the credentials, the security keys of its API so that we can process the operations. If that does not happen, it is impossible for interoperability to begin,” they explained to Infobae in Modo, the wallet shared by all the banks in the system (with the exception of the Provincia) and the main interest in interoperability beginning.
In Modo they assure that there was joint work between their technical teams and those of the Marcos Galperin, in which there was even “good predisposition and considerable progress.” But when the time comes to enable the keys, an essential step for the system to work, Mercado Pago made “unreasonable demands.” In Modo they consider that “some instance above the technical level” within Mercado Pago stopped the possibility of meeting the BCRA deadlines.
A tough meeting held days ago between Mercado Pago and the main banks in the system made it clear that the problem is purely commercial and that an agreement could not be reached to distribute the commission. Specifically: how much the card-issuing bank will pay Mercado Pago each time a purchase passes through its QR network.
In Mercado Pago they admit that they did not provide the keys and agree that the technical aspect is solved. The problem is economic. “Use of the QR network has a cost and requires contractual agreements of terms and conditions between the actors of the system, which include fraud prevention clauses, user security requirements, intellectual property and protection of personal data, among others,” they explained in Mercado Pago.
“After two rounds of proposals, the majority of wallets and their issuing banks maintain their rejection of these clauses and They refuse to accept the conditions for the interoperability of the QR with credit cards. This is the reason why it is not yet enabled,” added the company, which expressed itself “willing to discuss the conditions” at the negotiating table.
A Mercado Pago source said that based on an estimate of card payments made last month, a top bank would not have to pay more than $30,000 per month to use the company’s QR network.
Beyond the fact that it did not reach an agreement with Modo, Mercado Pago’s refusal would also affect any other wallet that wants to load debit or credit cards from any entity and use the QR network.
Why is this issue so important in the fight between banks and Mercado Libre over the payment methods business? Today, when a business has a QR provided by Mercado Pago, only accepts card payments via QR if the plastic is loaded in a Mercado Pago wallet and rejects them if the customer has their card loaded in bank wallets, such as Modo.
The BCRA rule ends this exclusivity for Mercado Pago and forces it to open its network to Modo and any other wallet. After several extensions, decided that it will come into effect on April 30. But in reality, that won’t happen..
Interoperability in QR payments already exists when they are made from account to account, based on the “Transfers 3.0” program in force since 2021. Since then, all QR readers (mostly provided by Mercado Pago) must accept payments from all wallets via transfer, regardless of their brands. On that occasion, the BCRA intervened in the negotiation and established a commission scheme that satisfied everyone.
A few days ago, at Payments Day, an event on payment methods organized by Road Show, the directors of the BCRA Pedro Inchauspe and Agustín Pesce They confirmed that there would be no new extension. “The date of April 30 remains firm. There are things to adjust, but that date is not going to move,” he explained. Inchauspewho clarified that the entity will advance with the demand regardless of whether or not Mercado Pago agrees with the rest of the system.
“The Central Bank is the regulator, it is not going to get involved in a trade agreement. Compliance with a standard cannot be subject to a commercial agreement. We have made the effort to have all the actors seated at one table and the opening is not subject to that. There is an objective of the BCRA that has to do with taking care of the user as ordered by the Organic Charter. And that is the path that we believe must be followed,” added the director of the BCRA. The trade agreement did not occur and, despite this firmness in the Central’s position, interoperability will not begin.
What will change for the user once interoperable QR is implemented? Every time you see a QR in a business, whether physical on a sign or digital on the screen of a POS terminal, you will have the opportunity to take out your cell phone and you can choose twice in a few seconds. First, you will choose which of all the digital wallets on your phone, both from banks and fintech, you want to use to pay. Once it’s inside the wallet, The second choice will be your payment method: with money in an account (CBU or CVU), debit card or credit card. Until now, you only had that freedom of choice if you choose to pay by transfer.
In that sense, one survey among many that reflects the growth in the use of electronic means of payment pointed out that the use of QR payments would have greater appeal among users if all wallets could be integrated.
According to the study “Means of Payment and Financing”, carried out by D’Alessio IROL, reveals that “the use of QR for payments continues to grow, especially among those under 45 years of age (77%) and also among half of the Silver Generation ”.
“There is a predisposition to start and/or pay more frequently with QR if it could be integrated with any digital wallet available on the market,” said the consultant. Faced with the question “Would you pay more with QR if it worked with any wallet?”61% of those consulted responded that they would do it “the same or more than now”, while 33% responded negatively.
