Not long ago, transferring money was a cumbersome and expensive task for most people living in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). It could require traveling to a bank branch during business hours, paying a fee, and waiting several days for the recipient to receive the funds. The introduction of digital wallets reduced some of these frictions, but many remained due to siloed payment infrastructures and uncompetitive markets.
At least a dozen LAC countries have developed fast payment systems (FPS)—the underlying infrastructure platform and a set of common rules that support fast payments—to drive digital transformation and inclusion. From Sinpe in Costa Rica, to Pix in Brazil, to SPI in Paraguay, millions of consumers across the region are now leveraging FPSs to make free or low-cost digital payments from their mobile phones, with recipients receiving the funds within seconds, regardless of their financial institution. These initiatives have helped to foster competition and innovation by leveling the playing field for payment service providers—whether large incumbent banks, cooperative financial institutions, or new fintech players.
A new report by the World Bank analyzes fresh data on FPS across 11 LAC countries and offers policy messages to support the further development of fast payments. The report finds a key inflection point began around 2020, when FPS deployments began in seven LAC countries, coinciding with a sharp increase in consumer demand for digital payments catalyzed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Our analysis shows that the number of fast payment transactions has increased 130-fold over the past eight years, from 620 million in 2017 to 79.8 billion in 2024. Fast payments are now driving the growth of digital payments in LAC: in 2024, FPS accounted for 45 percent of digital payment volume—up from two percent in 2017—and surpassed card payment volumes for the first time.
The report also shows that the 11 countries in the region have followed different FPS trajectories. Central banks have been key players through their various and evolving roles as payment system overseers, regulators, catalysts, and, increasingly, operators. Central banks now operate FPS in Brazil, Bolivia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Mexico, and Paraguay. Fast payment systems design choices —including deployed use cases, access channels, and alias functionality—as well as governance and interoperability models, also explain the divergent trajectories of FPS across LAC.
As of 2024, three countries have emerged as top regional performers in terms of FPS transaction volumes: Brazil, Argentina, and Costa Rica (see Figure 3). Bolivia, Mexico, Paraguay, and Peru have also seen strong and sustained growth in fast payments since 2020 as their ecosystems mature. In several countries, fast payments are also gaining competitive traction within the broader ecosystem: in Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, and Peru, fast payments now account for more than 40 percent of digital payment volumes.
There is also strong evidence that fast payments are deepening digital financial inclusion through increased account usage: Across LAC, digital payments per account holder have increased from 154 to 587 payments per account holder per year, on average, with 61 percent of this growth attributable to fast payments. In the more mature markets, adoption of fast payments is widespread across consumer segments: In Brazil and Costa Rica, more than 75 percent of adults use Pix and Sinpe, respectively. FPS can also help spur innovation and amplify other strategies to deepen digital financial inclusion, such as open finance.
Despite recent progress, most LAC countries have significant scope to catch up to the top-performers regionally and worldwide. FPS ecosystems in some LAC countries remain fragmented, and most have not diversified use cases beyond person-to-person (P2P) payments, threatening long-term sustainability. And several countries—particularly those in Central America and the Caribbean—are just now beginning to develop their fast payment ecosystems.
To drive this agenda forward, we recommend that policymakers and private sector participants prioritize the following reforms:
- Ensure nonbank access and effective interoperability—within and across FPS—to address system fragmentation and support scalability and market efficiency.
- Governance arrangements for FPS should ensure alignment with public policy objectives and a level playing field for private sector operators
- Diversify use cases beyond P2P payments to include person-to-merchant (P2M) and bill and government payments in order to drive adoption and innovation
- Address fraud and operational resilience challenges to build trust and ensure the sustainable growth of fast payments
- Develop strategies to future-proof FPS and pursue integration with other digital public infrastructures to increase impact and ensure continued relevance
The momentum behind the fast payment agenda in Latin America and the Caribbean is very promising and suggests that universal digital financial inclusion may soon be a reality in the region.
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