After the long conflict that faced Mercado Pago con Modo, the wallet of the main banks in the country (with the exception of the Provincia), the time when it will begin to operate is finally approaching. interoperability for QR payments made by credit card, as already happens in the case of payments with transfers. In this way, any virtual wallet can be used to pay with a card in any QR reader of a business, regardless of which brand both devices belong to.
As explained by both companies, Modo users can now pay with a credit card at the Mercado Pago QR readers installed in the stores. Frávega, Open 25, McDonald’s, Day%, Farmacity and Mustard. As a pilot test, interoperability has already been put into practice in these six chains. The efficiency margin in these payments exceeded 90% and in the first 3 chains mentioned, until June 12, Almost 7,000 operations had already been approved.
Likewise, it was decided that new businesses would gradually be incorporated into the system. until reaching 100% on July 8, with some logical delay in any complex technological process. Initially it had been established that “full interoperability” would arrive this week, but Mercado Pago decided to delay the implementation, something that surprised its counterpart. Beyond these misgivings (Modo is still carrying out actions against Mercado Pago in the area of Defense of Competition), the truth is that both parties confirm that in 20 days the system will be fully operational, which will further boost digital payments. in the country. It will also bring more benefits to users, not only by incorporating new ways to pay for their purchases but also because it is expected a growth in promotions and discounts based on greater competition.
After almost two years of delays and conflicts, Mercado Pago and the banks that make up Modo reached an agreement to implement the interoperability of QR payments with credit cards, as the Central Bank had ordered to be carried out since April 30 but which only began to become a reality these days with the aforementioned “pilot tests” in 6 commercial chains .
The full implementation of the system, which will connect millions of digital wallet users with more than 500,000 businesses that charge with the Mercado Pago QR, will be progressive. Once that stage is completed, all QR readers will have to accept card payments from all wallets, regardless of their brand, as is already the case with QR payments made with account-to-account transfer.
Until now, a Mercado Pago QR reader accepts card payments only if it is loaded in a Mercado Pago wallet. A BCRA rule ended that exclusivity for Mercado Pago and forced it to open its network to Mode and any other wallet.
The agreement between Mercado Pago and Modo, sealed at the beginning of this month under pressure from the Central Bank to comply with its standard, focused on a key point to carry out the interoperability of card payments via QR: what to do with fraud cases. In that sense, rules were established to determine which company faces chargebacks, that is, operations that must be reversed due to some irregularity.
But the underlying problem was Mercado Libre’s aspiration to apply an acquisition commission of 0.3% when Modo or another wallet was used in their QR readers. That claim finally fell by the wayside.
“This advance implies a decisive step towards total interoperability in payment methods. The milestone of the process, initiated and promoted by the BCRA, was the entry into force of the interoperability of QR codes for credit card payments which, after successive postponements, finally occurred on April 30, 2024,” the Bank noted. Central on this situation. Its regulations also included prepaid cards, with a period of 270 days for their incorporation into the system.
The monetary entity also highlighted that the new scheme was designed with the participation of all companies. This consensus, noted the BCRA, contributes to the construction of “an open, competitive and interoperable digital payments ecosystem, which promotes greater financial inclusion and simplifies the experience of the more than 36 million users of the financial system.”
