The Central Bank Added New Activities to Complementary Financial Services

The Central Bank of Argentina (the “Central Bank”) issued Communiqué “A” 6154 adding two new activities to the concept of “complementary services for financial activity”:  payment service providers and “technology development and service providers for financial activities”.

With this new rule, the Central Bank furthers  its aim to incorporate new technological tools and activities to the financial sector (see “New Regulation Implementing the Mobile Payment Platform” in Marval News # 162, “New Regulations towards a Digitalized Financial Sector” in Marval News # 165, and “The Central Bank Implemented a New Online Immediate Debit Payment Service” in Marval News # 168).

The Central Bank defines “payment service providers” as companies that provide services related to the processing of payments and/or receipts through credit cards, debit cards, prepaid cards, mobile payment platforms and other means of payment.

Regarding the “technology development and service providers for financial activities”, Communiqué “A” 6154 does not provide an explicit definition of which companies may be included in such category. Therefore a case by case analysis must be conducted in order to determine whether a company that offers technology development or related services for the financial industry falls within this concept.

The inclusion of these new activities within the complementary services for the financial activity framework has the primary consequence of widening the range of activities in which financial entities may participate. However the direct and indirect interpretative effects that this new rule will have over the activities added to the aforementioned framework are yet to be known.