"Pull" Transfers: New Regulations on the Entry of Funds Into Same-Owner Accounts

On April 30, 2024, the Argentine Central Bank (BCRA) issued Communication ‘A’ 7996, regulating certain aspects of the immediate “pull” transfer service to deposit funds in same-owner accounts. Pull transfers are immediate transfers that enable clients to fund their accounts with funds from their other accounts held with other providers. Pull transfers were introduced by Communication "A" 7514, commented in this article.

Financial Institutions (EF) or Payment Service Providers that Offer Payment Accounts (PSPCPs) must obtain their customers' consent for immediate “pull” transfers. The Communication explains that the ordering customer may give explicit or implicit consent for it. EFs and PSPCPs will be free to choose the means for ordering customers to give their consent. They and are not obliged to offer both means.

These pull transfers must be free of charge for the ordering customers and may execute up to 2,500 UVA per day and per ordering account. Immediate transfer scheme administrators must allow immediate pull transfers with both means of consent (explicit or tacit) and must not refuse requests for funds.

The originating customer’s consent will be considered explicit if it is given following the procedure coordinated within the framework of the “Interbank Commission for Means of Payment of the Argentine Republic,” based on the “Open Authorization” or OAuth2 standard.

The ordering customer’s consent will be considered implicit when their actions make it possible to know with certainty that they wish to make the transfer and if they do not state the contrary to the institution receiving the funds. Receiving institutions must be certain that the debited and credited accounts belong to the same customer.

The Communication originally contemplated a fee scheme by which entities that received funds via pull transfers had to pay a fee to the entities that provided the debited accounts. Nonetheless, we omit commenting on this scheme since the BCRA recently issued Communication “A” 8030 repealing it.

The Communication also addresses issues relating to fraudulent behavior that could occur in the context of “pull” transfers:

1. Customers will have 60 days to dispute a “pull” transfer debit.
2. The debited entity must refund the amount debited to the customer within three working days as of the disregard and make a chargeback against the institution originating the transfer (i.e., the provider of the credited account). For this purpose, the administrators of the immediate transfer scheme should establish specific collateral requirements for participants to meet any chargebacks they receive.
3. The provider of the credited account will be liable for the fund returns in cases of credit obtained through fraudulent means.