BoaCompra by PagSeguro’s team attended Cross-Tech Latam to bring you, in this blog post, the main topics of discussion among the event’s panelists, which included representatives from Brazil’s Central Bank, major fintech companies, expert consultants, and more. Enjoy!

1. Pix is leading the way…

According to the event’s organizers, Brazil was chosen as the host-country for Cross-Tech Latam due to the fact that it is the leading market of the region, both in terms of size and of innovation. And when it comes to Brazil’s financial innovation, there’s a clear protagonist: Central Bank’s instant payment method Pix.

During the event’s welcome remarks, Central Bank’s Angelo Alverne Duarte pointed out that being able to make transfers and payments 24/7, any day of the week already became a habit in the lives of Brazilians, which adopted Pix even faster than the Central Bank expected. On May 6, Pix broke a new record: highest number of transactions in a single day, 73,198,432. Since release, over 430 million Pix keys have already been registered.

It’s clear that Pix is the new standard for what an instant payment should be like, but the Central Bank representatives during the event highlighted that there’s still many features planned to be implemented in the instant payment, as you’ll see below.

2. …And there’s a lot to come for Pix

Pix has already changed the way Brazilians buy, but it’s only the beginning for the instant payment. At Cross-Tech Latam, Central Bank members shared with the audience some of the plans for Pix in the near-future.

Recurring payments (for streaming services and other online subscriptions) and instant debit (for scheduled clearance of bills such as credit cards, electricity, internet etc.) were the most mentioned, and seem to be well on their way to be released soon.

For the not-so-near future, but still something the Central Bank is very eager to implement, is Cross-Border Pix. The idea is that, through connections to other countries’ instant payment systems, such transfers might become quicker and cheaper. This plan also relates to Pix’s influence in the international payment landscape and puts Brazil ahead when it comes to payment innovation.

3. Cryptocurrency as a payment method could soon be a reality

Crypto was another frequent topic during Cross-Tech Latam 2022. Amidst discussions on Brazil’s regulations and the current importance of cryptocurrency as an investment option, speakers also seemed optimistic that crypto could soon be more widely accepted in Latin America as a payment method. The Central Bank still has a long way to go in that regard, but laws such as the LGPD in Brazil also help regulate the use of crypto while there’s still no regulations focused solely on digital currency as a payment method.

4. Partnerships are key

Between traditional companies and digital-born businesses, especially when considering cross-border operations, most Cross-Tech Latam speakers highlighted the importance of partnering with other companies as a way to expand operations and strengthen strategies.

That way, companies can focus on their core business while still exploring new horizons. Of course, when considering a partner company, it’s fundamental to evaluate if both businesses have synergy and how each side can benefit the other. When chosen carefully, partnerships can greatly improve a company’s technological reliability and opportunities.

BoaCompra by PagSeguro, for example, is the ideal partner for companies aiming to sell to Latin American countries with no need for opening a local entity in each target-country. By partnering up with a local payments processor, companies can offer local payment methods and currencies with much less bureaucracy, higher level of expertise, and less costs.

5. Customer-centricity is the way to go

Instant payments, crypto, partnerships, and other financial advancements have, in the end, one common goal: attending customers’ expectations. The huge, unexpected success of Pix in Brazil, after all, makes perfect sense: the country is highly digitized, with users who are used to shopping and paying online and who greatly value transparency and agility.

Or take the case of crypto: with users more comfortable with investing in it, and ready to take the next step and start using it as a payment method, the Central Bank has to properly support such transactions through their regulations. In the end, the customer has to be at the center of every business decision, every technological release, every partnership.

In a world with so many options, with the digital moving beyond borders and everything happening faster than ever, customers have no problem leaving a company behind if they find another that best suits them. So to invest in technology with purpose, it’s fundamental to be customer-centric.

And to boost your business in Latin America in accordance with what your customers expect, count on BoaCompra by PagSeguro. Want to know more about how we can help? Talk to our experts now and understand how offering local payment methods is a game-changer.