Take Your Pix: Brazil’s Instant Payments Are Heading Abroad

Pix, Brazil’s successful instant payment system, is expanding beyond its home country’s borders. Foreign tourists visiting Brazil will now be able to use Pix for their purchases. Pix Roaming, announced as a brand-new offering from Brazilian fintech PagBrasil, will allow foreign nationals within Brazil to complete transactions instantly where Pix is accepted. This service includes all the usual benefits usually of paying with Pix, including discounts.

In the past few months, PagBrasil also introduced International Pix, which enables Brazilians traveling outside Brazil to use Pix at participating physical stores. International Pix has been available in Uruguay, Argentina, Chile, and selected locations in the United States—and is now being introduced in Spain, with expectations of further expansion.

With both services, users can initiate Pix transactions through multiple channels, including mobile banking apps, online banking platforms, or digital wallets. Consumers simply choose Pix at checkout and either scan a QR code or enter a Pix code to complete the transaction.

“Pix is now responsible for 90% of bank transactions in Brazil,” PagBrasil CEO Ralf Germer said in a prepared statement. “What we have done at PagBrasil is to enable a multitude of ways that Brazilian tourists abroad, and foreign tourists traveling to Brazil, can utilize Pix services – providing businesses and consumers innovative and seamless means to leverage Pix inside and out of the country.”

The cross-border Pix services follow similar offerings in Southeast Asia, offered through Alipay+. The central banks in that region have collaborated to allow instant payment systems using QR codes between countries such as Thailand, Singapore, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, and Hong Kong.

Pix Takes Off

Since its launch in 2020, Pix has garnered more than 160 million users. Digital commerce in Brazil grew from 68% among adults in 2020 to 90% by 2023. As a result, Brazil’s digital marketplace, valued at $275 billion, now ranks fourth worldwide in digital buyers and captures more than half of Latin America’s market share.

“Pix Roaming gives foreign visitors to Brazil another option to pay for purchases,” said Elisa Tavilla, Director of Debit Payments at Javelin Strategy & Research. “International tourists and business travelers can pay like locals using Pix, without having to worry about currency conversions with cash or card. For merchants, Pix roaming transactions are treated like all other Pix transactions. It’s a new convenient, seamless payment option that would benefit both visiting shoppers and local businesses.”