The BCRA's consolidated Payment Service Provider rules define Argentina's regulatory framework for businesses supplying payment services. They concern the provider and its activities, helping separate a customer-facing payment service from the banks and infrastructure supporting it.
TL;DR:
- BCRA requirements follow each PSP's account, acceptance or initiation functions.
- Payment-account funds must be available on demand and backed in domestic peso sight accounts.
- Providers must disclose that they are not banks and balances are not protected bank deposits.
Summary
A functional framework for payment providers
The BCRA’s consolidated rules use a functional approach: institutions performing the same payment function are subject to the corresponding rules within Argentina’s national payment system. The framework distinguishes payment instruments, schemes and the roles performed by financial institutions and non-bank PSPs. It covers registration and updates to information, reporting and oversight, and additional requirements for particular functions. The consolidation dated 2 October 2026 incorporates Communication A 8488 and identifies the version of the PSP framework set out in that document.
Customer money in payment accounts
For PSPs offering payment accounts, customer money must remain identifiable and immediately available on the customer’s request. The rules require customer funds to be held in peso sight accounts with domestic financial institutions. Where a customer expressly requests investment into qualifying money-market funds, the payment account is debited and invested balances are reported separately. The PSP’s own operational payments must use a separate operating account, preserving a distinction between customer balances and the provider’s business money.
Transparency about the legal relationship
Advertising and documentation must explain that the PSP offers payment services and is not authorised to operate as a financial institution. They must also state that payment-account balances are not deposits with a financial institution and do not have the guarantees attached to such deposits. This distinction matters even where the PSP keeps the underlying customer funds at a bank. The customer’s payment-account relationship and a direct bank-deposit relationship are legally different arrangements.
Platforms, identity and continuing responsibility
The rules connect payment-account opening with identity verification and require compliance with the relevant transfer rules. They also address payment accounts provided as a service through another business: using a third party’s interface does not release the account-providing PSP from the requirements applying to it. Separate sections cover acceptance, initiation and financial-crime prevention. The relevant function and legal provider therefore remain important when one app or merchant integration combines several participants in the payment chain.
Keywords
- Argentina PSPs
- BCRA registration
- payment accounts
- fund backing
- peso balances
- customer disclosures
- segregated funds
- merchant acceptance
- payment initiation
- regulatory reporting