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2026 is set to be a pivotal year for instant payments in Latin America, with evolving regulations set to redefine how banks and payment service providers (PSPs) operate and compete in the payments market across the region.
Banks and PSPs must adapt to evolving regulatory expectations to maintain operational resilience and competitive advantage.
In Colombia, the launch of Bre-B is expected to be accompanied by new regulatory guidance as the country seeks to refine its first instant payments framework. At the same time, Brazil, now five years into its instant payments system, Pix, is strengthening supervisory authority, with a particular focus on fraud prevention.
Throughout 2026, banks and PSPs should monitor the expansion of instant payments across Latin America. Both newly launched and established systems are likely to face heightened supervisory scrutiny, stricter anti-fraud requirements and evolving standards that affect operations, compliance programmes and competitive positioning.
Market snapshot
Colombia’s Bre-B instant payments system, launched by the Bank of the Republic (BanRep) in October 2025, allows individuals and businesses to send and receive funds in real time on a 24/7 basis via interoperability between financial institutions and digital wallets.
In contrast, Pix has reached a mature phase since its November 2020 debut. According to the Central Bank of Brazil (BCB), Pix recorded nearly 7.3bn transactions in October 2025, up from 5.7bn a year earlier.
Elsewhere, Mexico introduced its own instant payments system, CoDi, in 2019. Yet jurisdictions face differing challenges: Colombia continues refining its oversight, Mexico grapples with limited CoDi uptake and Brazil maintains a more established ecosystem.
Despite uneven maturity, each framework supports financial innovation and broader access to instant payments across the region.
Prioritising fraud prevention
Fraud prevention will remain a key regulatory priority in both established and emerging systems in 2026.
Weeks before the launch of Bre-B, BanRep issued a warning to users about financial scams following a rise in reported fraud attempts. Brazil, meanwhile, implemented several Pix-related anti-fraud measures in 2025, including a “dispute button” and a “special refund mechanism” that enables blocking and returning funds in suspected cases.
As instant payments systems mature across Latin America, banks and PSPs participating in these schemes may need to invest in detection frameworks and adopt consumer protection measures to keep pace with evolving standards and protect their brands.
Falling behind on fraud controls could expose firms to greater regulatory scrutiny, higher operational risk and reputational harm as consumers become less tolerant of weak safeguards.
Innovation meets regulation
As expectations for seamless and secure payments accelerate, regulators are working to keep pace. Users increasingly demand simple onboarding, streamlined interfaces and reliable, on-demand functionality.
In October 2025, the BCB announced that the regulatory framework for Pix Parcelado, a new pay-by-installment feature, would be released by the end of the month.
At the time of writing, the framework had not yet been released; however, the message remains clear: payments innovation requires agile regulation to support growth, and both regulators and market participants should expect continual adjustments.
As regulations for instant payments evolve and countries across the region seek to refine their frameworks to encourage adoption, banks and PSPs should monitor these changes closely, not only to stay compliant, but also to remain competitive.
Firms that anticipate regulatory updates, invest in operational resilience and innovate alongside regulators will maintain compliance while leveraging instant payments as a driver of growth and customer engagement across Latin America.
