Amendments to the Registration of Payment Service Providers

On September 22, 2022, the Argentine Central Bank (BCRA) issued Communique “A” 7613 establishing new requirements for the registration of “Payment Service Providers” (PSP). This decision comes after introducing new information regarding the subjects required to be registered and the documentation they must submit through Communique “A” 7462, published last March.

First, the BCRA introduced a deadline for remedying deficient or non-compliant registrations. Consequently, applicants must remedy their submissions within 20 business days as from the date the BCRA requests it. Failure to remedy registrations within this period implies an automatic expiration, and the applicant will therefore not be considered registered. It should be noted that the previous regime had no remediation time limit for the applicant, only a period of 10 business days for the BCRA to report deficient applications. This period is still in force.

Another important innovation introduced by this communique is that it was stated by the BCRA that this certificate will be a necessary condition for PSPs to operate. This new measure prohibits not only unregistered PSPs but also those without this certificate -in spite of being in the process of registering- from operating.

Further, PSPs must start operating within six-month from their registration date. Therefore, a function will be incorporated to the system for PSPs to properly inform the BCRA the start date of their operations. Failure to comply with this requirement within the prescribed period will result in automatic deregistration.

The expiration term is 6 months from the date the communication is made known, as it is in the case of PSPs that are already registered but not yet operating.

Regarding the consequences established by the BCRA, those PSPs deregistered for not starting to operate, or those whose registration procedure has expired cannot initiate a new registration procedure before six months from the date of deregistration or expiration.

On the other hand, the BCRA incorporated the possibility for PSPs in the process of registration to cancel their applications using the same system. Up to now, this possibility of withdrawing from the procedure through this system was not available.

Moreover, should activities cease, the BCRA established that those PSPs already enrolled in the registry will be able to decide and process their withdrawal through the same system at least 30 days before the effective date.

Finally, PSPCPs (PSPs offering payment accounts) and PSIs (PSPs performing the initiator function) applying for the “Register of interoperable e-wallets” will be required to comply with the applicable information regime. This provision applies to applications pending at the time the communication is made known.