The revolution in fast payments is sweeping across nearly all of Latin America. The number of fast payments per capita in Peru has grown rapidly, from close to zero in 2019 to more than 3 per month. Despite this upward trend, more than half of Peruvian adults still do not use digital payments according to the 2021 Global Findex. Peru’s fast payment ecosystem faces unique challenges related to competition, interoperability, and sustainability.

With Finance for Development (F4D) Umbrella Program support, the World Bank has worked with the financial sector authorities in Peru to foster an inclusive digital payments ecosystem through reforms that enable fast and interoperable payment services and regulate the market to be competitive. In September 2024, the Central Bank of Peru (BCRP) has successfully passed reforms to the country’s 2009 payment system law, marking a significant milestone in the country's payment system regulation. The World Bank provided extensive technical assistance to BCRP in drafting the amendments.

The reform broadens the BCRP's powers as the national payment system governing entity by including interoperability, transparency, competition, and innovation as regulatory objectives, extending its scope of governance to other payment systems and services, granting authority to license, authorize, and register entities operating in the digital payments ecosystem, and issuing guidelines on fees and costs within the ecosystem. With these changes, the BCRP will be able to regulate and supervise payment services and bring fintechs under its regulatory umbrella.

The BCRP will gradually adapt the regulatory framework by issuing circulars, maintaining close communications with the different actors in the payment ecosystem in creating a level playing field for the participation of a range of digital payment providers.