.svg)
Brazil’s Pix instant payments system has evolved into one of the world’s most advanced and widely used instant payments systems, transforming the financial landscape of Latin America's largest economy. Since its launch in 2020 by the Central Bank of Brazil (BCB), Pix has streamlined and digitised payments at scale, fundamentally changing how individuals and businesses move money in Brazil.
Boasting 172m users as of December 2025, Pix’s growth has been fuelled by its accessibility, ease of use and real-time transaction capabilities. Innovative new features, such as Automatic Pix (recurring payments) and Pix by Proximity (contactless payments), have further enhanced the system’s visibility and appeal. However, the scale and success of Pix has brought new challenges, including in the realm of fraud and financial crime.
To maintain the integrity of Pix and ensure its long-term sustainability, the BCB has published a string of regulations designed to tackle fraudulent activities capable of exploiting Pix users.
The bigger picture
With Pix now a central pillar of Brazil’s payments infrastructure, its scale, speed and ubiquity have made it an increasingly attractive target for fraud and financial crime. Against this backdrop, the BCB has moved to reinforce the security of the Pix ecosystem by tailoring its regulatory framework to curb fraudulent activity.
In September 2025, the BCB issued a regulation narrowing the criteria for unauthorised payment institutions to act as Pix participants. The regulation, which was issued alongside four other security-centric regulations, also establishes Pix transaction value limits for unauthorised institutions and information technology service providers (PSTIs).
The following month, the BCB implemented a "dispute button", formally called the Special Return Mechanism (MED), which can be activated by Pix users in cases of fraud. Additionally, in December 2025, the BCB launched a new consumer service BC Protege+, which is designed to protect against fraud surrounding the opening of payment accounts and across the wider financial system.
These BCB regulations align with a series of others issued by the BCB in 2025 to bolster the security of Pix, including regulations that require identification of fraudulent transactions in real time, mandate verification of Pix key ownership, improve Automatic Pix security mechanisms and set value limits on Pix by Proximity transactions.
Viewed in the wider regulatory context, the BCB’s actions on Pix security reflect a longer-term strategic shift rather than a series of isolated interventions.
In its 2025 regulatory agenda, the BCB explicitly identified fraud prevention, consumer protection and operational resilience in instant payments as core priorities, signalling concern about the systemic risks that accompany mass adoption of instant payments infrastructure as usage and transaction values continue to rise.
This strategic orientation has translated into a progressively layered Pix security architecture, combining preventative, detective and remedial mechanisms across Pix transaction lifecycles.
Preventative tools include mandatory customer due diligence, Pix key verification, dynamic transaction limits and real-time monitoring obligations for participants. Detective tools increasingly rely on behavioural analytics and risk profiling to flag suspicious activity as transactions occur.
On the remedial side, mechanisms such as the MED are designed to provide users with a formalised pathway to contest fraudulent transfers, while enabling institutions to freeze and recover funds more quickly across the Pix network.
Alongside these technical controls, the enforcement landscape has become more assertive through the formalisation of Pix-specific enforcement rules. The BCB, in September 2025, approved the Pix Penalties Manual, which codifies for the first time parameters for applying penalties and related procedures.
With the new manual, the BCB is signalling a stronger supervisory approach, emphasising accountability for Pix participants, as well as compelling payment institutions to adopt robust internal controls and governance over their security and, in turn, that of their customers.
Rather than treating security as a constraint on innovation, the BCB’s response to fraud and financial crime within Pix shows that proactive, iterative safeguards are the bedrock of the system’s integrity. By ensuring the system remains trustworthy and sustainable, these security measures create the stability required for Pix to scale and innovate further.
These recent BCB measures also provide a useful lens through which to anticipate the BCB’s 2026 rulemaking agenda, suggesting a continued emphasis on strengthening security, while preserving the speed and utility of the Pix ecosystem.
This wider regulatory context underscores a regulatory philosophy within the BCB that treats Pix not merely as a payments product, but as critical financial market infrastructure — one that must be continuously recalibrated through rulemaking, supervision and enforcement as threats evolve.
Why should you care?
Payment institutions and their compliance teams operating in Brazil must pay close attention to the regulatory developments surrounding Pix.
The evolution of Pix’s regulatory framework is directly tied to the growing sophistication of fraud and financial crime. As Pix continues to mature, the BCB is poised to continue strengthening the system's defences against new threats, creating a heightened compliance burden for payment institutions in Brazil.
For example, the introduction of more stringent fraud detection and transaction monitoring regulations will require payment institutions to invest in advanced technology solutions capable of identifying and preventing increasingly complex fraudulent activities. Compliance teams will also need to keep abreast of the latest procedures for handling disputes and refunds, increased cross-border payments scrutiny and new fraud liability models.
Failing to comply with these regulations could result in significant reputational damage, legal consequences and financial penalties, making it essential for payment institutions to understand Pix’s regulatory landscape as it relates to fraud and financial security.
Next steps
Looking ahead, payment institutions and their compliance teams must take immediate or proactive steps to align with impending or anticipated regulatory changes affecting Pix.
With the BCB’s heightened supervisory posture on fraud and financial crime, compliance can no longer be treated as a reactive function. Instead, payment institutions should view evolving Pix security requirements as a core operational and governance priority, aligned with the system’s role as a critical financial market infrastructure in Brazil.
To manage regulatory exposure while strengthening internal resilience against fraud and financial crime, payment institutions should consider taking the following steps:
- Embed security into Pix innovation. Ensure that new Pix-integrated products, features and partnerships are equipped with fraud prevention mechanisms from the outset, rather than retrofitted after launch.
- Map Pix fraud exposure across products and channels. Identify how existing Pix use cases, including Automatic Pix, Pix by Proximity and high-value transfers, intersect with fraud typologies and regulatory obligations.
- Review Pix participant eligibility and transaction limits. Assess whether institutional status, partnerships or reliance on unauthorised entities or PSTIs create elevated compliance or operational risk under the BCB’s tightened participation rules.
- Upgrade real-time monitoring and analytics. Ensure transaction monitoring systems meet BCB expectations for real-time identification of potentially fraudulent Pix transactions, including behavioural and AI-enabled risk indicators.
- Strengthen Pix key and account controls. Align customer due diligence, Pix key verification and account management processes with the latest requirements on fraud prevention, account closures and payment rejections.
- Operationalise dispute and recovery mechanisms. Embed refund workflows into customer service, fraud operations and inter-institutional coordination.
- Enhance governance and accountability frameworks. Review internal policies, escalation procedures and decision-making structures in light of the BCB’s now-formalised enforcement approach.
- Maintain proactive regulatory engagement. Monitor BCB regulations, guidance and enforcement actions to anticipate changes to security, liability and consumer protection frameworks.
By staying ahead of the curve and prioritising a culture of compliance, payment institutions can mitigate risks, enhance customer trust and capitalise on the long-term benefits of Pix's growing influence in the Brazilian and global payments arena.
