The Central Bank of Argentina is paving the way for open banking, introducing new regulation and initiatives to encourage digital payments and enable interoperability. New measures for regulating virtual wallets were adopted in May 2022 by the board of Banco Central de la República Argentina, the country’s central bank. The rule mandates banks, fintechs, payment services providers and digital wallet administrators to provide their customers with the ability to link other accounts. This ultimately means that customers will be able to carry out payments and transfers through one digital wallet but using funds deposited in another account.
Banks will also be required to provide account information to payment services providers to facilitate this function. Industry participants have until September 30, 2022, to comply and incorporate the necessary capabilities. There are now over 30 million virtual accounts in the country, representing more than half of Argentina’s population. About half of the money transacted domestically involve virtual accounts.