C&M, Brazil’s largest payment processor, arrives in the country

Anticipating the launch of the immediate payment system of the Banco de la República in mid-2025 in Colombia, C&M Software, from Brazil, one of the largest global players in payment processing announced its arrival in the country with the help of the investment bank Pronuswith which they will create Pronus Payments.

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The company was founded in 1999 by engineer Orli Machado and has collaborated in the development of Pix, the Brazilian immediate payment systemwhich in less than four years has become the most successful worldwide, according to its participation in transactions and per capita monetary amount.

Machado said that the Pix system is used massively in Brazil, “with operations from one real to 1,000 million reals, as an operation was carried out recently and in which the system architecture was tested and worked perfectly.”

He anticipated that this year’s numbers are larger and will set a new record for Pix.
The data for 2023 was “42,000 million pixes (operations) moving 17 trillion reais and in the case of C&M, we moved 5.4 trillion reais”he assured.

“We are the largest player in the world on the service. Until last week we had 376 companies processing with us and of all sizes, from Bradesco to small credit cooperatives, brokerage houses, fintech, etc. said Ricardo Lanfranchi, US CEO of CMSW.

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Lanfranchi said that Pix “It is generating a virtuous circle of ideas, new uses with society and banks. “Before, banks were seen as a threat because of fees on added services that were perceived as something they shouldn’t be and now banks love Pix.”.

He assured that after the success that was had with the previous developments and then with Pix “We were invited by the Federal Reserve (Fed) in the United States to help develop the Fed Now architecture, which is faithful to Pix’s architecture.”

He stated that the structures of the Pix payment system are 100% ISO20022 standard and the engine is maintained by the central bank of Brazil and the operations are account to account, in real time and fully interoperable.

“We want to do in Colombia what we do in Brazil and contribute with this system in this, which is the third economy in the region, with ample potential for banking and demand for services and since we know Pronus we decided to do it with them”Machado assured.

For Camilo Zea, CEO of Pronus, the arrival of players from Brazil is important for Colombia, where the immediate payment system is already mature and “Although there is noise in Colombian banking on the issue of income because they are going to stop receiving commissions, since that must be done at zero cost, the good news is that entities will be able to offer other types of value-added services.”

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Zea said that when they have met with the banks they have been told that “They are going to want the immediate payment system like they do in Brazil with Pix, since there are great business opportunities derived from the system. It is a very important change and it is not a zero-sum game, but rather a game of profits for everyone and the risk in the payment system will also be reduced.”

Machado reaffirmed that an important issue is that the immediate payment system “It generates positive social inclusion and it is important that the regulation includes all participants and that they are obligated, since there cannot be closed wallets, without interoperability and furthermore, clients cannot be excluded. “We want to collaborate with Colombia in the necessary steps for the success of its system.”

In Brazil andThe Pix immediate payment system has 1,000 institutions and financial entities, since it is mandatory and 95% of the population is banked.

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HOLMAN RODRÍGUEZ MARTÍNEZ
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