How will Bre-B impact the payments industry in Colombia?

Sep

Colombia’s Bre-B Won’t Replace Cash Or Cards—But It Can Still Change Everything

The launch of Bre-B will be remembered as tipping point in the country’s payment infrastructure.

Valentina Meneses

Sr. Analyst

In September 2025, Colombia joined the group of countries that operate immediate and interoperable payment systems at the national level.¹ Colombia’s system, called Bre-B, allows anyone to send and receive money in a matter of seconds, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, between accounts in different banks, cooperatives, digital wallets and fintechs.

Bre-B arose as a response to the high dependence on cash in Colombia, which is still used in 77.8% of transactions, according to Banco de la República.² Its objective is to modernize low-value payments, offering an immediate, secure and frictionless digital alternative. Developed in coordination with the financial sector, Bre-B seeks to facilitate transfers between entities, reduce costs, promote the formalization of the economy and expand access to financial products for all Colombians.³ Inspired by successful cases such as Pix in Brazil and UPI in India, Bre-B is emerging as the new public infrastructure on which banks, fintechs and merchants should build their payment strategies.

In its first week of the key registration phase, prior to going live, 9.4% of the Colombian population registered at least one key on Bre-B, with more than 12 million unique identifiers activated.⁴ By comparison, Pix in Brazil reached 16.5% of the population in its initial week of launch in 2020.⁵ While the contexts are different, Bre-B’s strong start indicates significant initial adoption and substantial interest in immediate digital payments among Colombians.

To date, more than 30 financial entities-including banks, cooperatives, low-dollar deposit fintechs and payment networks such as ACH, Redeban and Visionamos-have enabled key registration and transactions with Bre-B. Participation is not mandatory, but expected for all entities offering deposit accounts. Competitive and user experience pressures mean that, in practice, most of the relevant entities are integrating.

#1: Costs, Limits and Payment Methods Enabled by Bre-B⁶

Below, Table 1 summarizes the key elements of the Bre-B system, including operating costs, transaction limits, and payment methods enabled in this first phase. This information clarifies how Bre-B will work for users, merchants and participating entities.

Projected Bre-B Costs in Colombia for Users and Businesses (2025–2029)

Costs of Bre-B in Colombia from 2025 onwards, including projections and post-2029 transaction fees for users and businesses
Element	Costs (2025–2029 projections)	Comment
Key registration	Free	Done through the apps or web channels of each financial entity*
P2P (person to person) transfers	Free for the final user	Expected to be free until 2029. The operating costs will be assumed by financial entities.
P2M (person to merchant) transfers	Costs for businesses are still undetermined, since there are no guidelines to determine costs for businesses.	Some entities, such as Bancolombia and Davivienda* have hinted that they won’t charge businesses. Other entities, such as Banco de Bogotá****, indicate that for its business clients, Bre-B will have “low costs per transaction.”
Operating cost after 2029	~CO$6,46 (US$0,0016) per transaction for P2P transactions	In the case of entities, each end of the transaction must pay half of the cost. It will not be passed on to the end user (individuals).

*This free scheme will be maintained until at least 2029 for users and is subject to future definition in the case of businesses, depending on the operating model of each entity.
**Bancolombia. (n.d.). Bre-B: Mueve tu plata y la de tu negocio fácil y al instante. Retrieved September 15, 2025.
***Mis Finanzas para mi negocio | Davivienda. (n.d.). Nuevo sistema de pagos Bre-B, todo lo que debe saber: Costos, obligaciones y beneficios para los negocios. Retrieved September 15, 2025.
**** Banco de Bogotá. (n.d.). Bre-B para empresas. Retrieved September 15, 2025.

Breaking down the key considerations when using Bre-B

Maximum transaction limits for Bre-B in Colombia, including per-transaction caps, entity-defined restrictions, and daily usage policies.
Factors to consider	Maximum value
Top amount per transaction	1000 BVU* ≈ CO$11 552 000 (US$2872,22)
Limit per user/entity	Defined by each entity
Transactions per day	Subject to internal policies

*BVU (basic value units) are periodically adjusted, so the top amount can vary over time.

Key Bre-B features

Key Bre-B features enabled at launch or expected later, including QR code use, scheduled payments, and ID-based transfers
Method	Enabled by the launch date?	Comments
Transfers via keys	Yes	Using ID, cell phone, mail or user-generated code.
QR payments to businesses	Yes (only businesses)	Businesses can generate a QR code for in-person payments and it’s expected this will be possible for online payments as well.
QR payments from person to person	No (expected by 2026)	It is expected that by 2026, individuals will be able to generate their own QRs for direct collections.
Other use cases like B2B payments, bill payments, payment requests, M2P bulk payments or scheduled payments	Not regulated	Private companies such as Cobre* are working to implement these use cases.

* Velandia Soto, S. (July 10, 2025). La República. La fintech Cobre habilitará pagos inmediatos empresariales desde el sistema Bre-B. Retrieved September 15, 2025.

#2: What Will Happen to Colombia’s Interoperable Schemes?

Bre-B is the central infrastructure that allows interoperability between different immediate payment schemes in Colombia. To achieve this, it relies on a network of nodes, such as Transfiya (ACH), Entrecuentas (Redeban) or Visionamos (solidarity sector), which were already operating with partially or fully closed loops.

Each financial institution can connect to Bre-B through one or more of these nodes. For example, banks such as Bancolombia are mainly integrated through Entrecuentas. Since the beginning of 2025, they started to promote the use of keys (such as cell phone number or identity card) to facilitate interoperable transfers before the official launch of Bre-B. This strategy allowed them to position themselves early, ensuring that their clients already had keys registered within their own ecosystem.

Transfiya (operated by ACH Colombia), Entrecuentas (from Redeban) and Visionamos’ interbank services will be transformed, but will not disappear.

Breakdown of Changes Expected for These Entities with Bre-B

Breakdown of Changes Expected for Transfiya, Entrecuentas and Visionamos with Bre-B, showing how legacy payment schemes and operators will adapt to the new infrastructure.
Existing scheme	How it worked before	How it will change with Bre-B	Current status with Bre-B
	Immediate transfers 24/7 between affiliated entities, using a cell phone as an alias.	The scheme will continue operating with its own interface, but will now route transactions through Bre-B’s rails.	Migrating to Bre-B. Technical integration in progress.
Entrecuentas	Internal service between banks connected to Redeban. Keys were promoted in 2025.	Registered keys will be compatible with Bre-B; onboarding support is expected.	Integration in progress. Will route payments through Bre-B.
	Real-time transfer network between cooperatives and sole entities.	Connected to Bre-B’s central engine as an interoperable node.	Technical integration in process.

#3: What Opportunities Does Bre-B Open up for Financial and Digital System Players?

Here’s a quick breakdown of the possibilities for each type of entity—and the challenges they will face.

Banks

Key opportunities

Infrastructure providers for other players, allowing diversification of revenue streams beyond the traditional business, with Banking-as-a-service (BaaS), using the bank’s API.
Integration of new services enhanced by the entry of new open banking regulations, such as the possibility of automating payments and subscriptions from the banking app, taking advantage of the immediate infrastructure. For example, setting up recurring payments within the bank’s app.
The Bre-B + open banking duality could enable UX-enhancing developments, such as instant payments enabled through biometrics.

Main challenges

Differentiation without transfer fees.
The interoperable nodes have experienced technological instability of the system; the main banks need to use different nodes to circumvent the risks; so far they only use Redeban.

Fintech

Key opportunities

Leveled competition, the ability to make structural changes more quickly will allow them to innovate before others and gain certain niches. Cobre, for example, is the first institution to allow B2B payments with Bre-b; its clients can not only get paid immediately but also disburse or withdraw funds.

Main challenges

Integration logistics
User confidence
Differentiate from traditional banking with niche services for companies or highly personalized services for individuals.

Brick-and-mortar and online businesses

Key opportunities

Immediate credit memos that allow real-time reconciliation of payments.
Enables expanded choice of the most convenient financial institutions to engage with.
Seamless online payment experiences that improve conversion rates.
Interoperable QR codes in the physical and online world.
Enables acceptance of a low-value payment method.

Main challenges

Customer education.
Operational integration with payment gateways connected to the system, which is no different from current models of aggregation in e-commerce or acquiring in the physical world.
Not a direct solution to retail financial inclusion.

Card brands (Visa, Mastercard, etc.)

Key opportunities

Possible alliances and tokenization, which would allow them to charge for Bre-B’s connection to global networks, tokenization or anti-fraud protection.
Use of their rails for international payments. For example, using Bre-B as a local rail to send or receive international payments via Visa Direct or Mastercard Send in e-commerce or remittances and other cross-border payments.

Main challenges

Requires repositioning as technology companies rather than card brands.
Potential loss of volume in P2M card payments; need to reinvent their debit card value proposition.

Outlining the steps in Bre-B’s creation—and future developments

To offer a sense of perspective, below we break down key milestones in the system’s development and include a look ahead at when we can expect new features and changes.

Bre-B Roadmap

Mar. 2024
Publication of the preliminary technical annexes of the system
Aug. 2024
Official introduction of the Bre-B brand
Sept. 2024
Publication of Regulation DSP-465 covering interoperability
Mar. 2025
Introduction of Bre-B to fintechs and recruitment events
Jul. 2025
Massive registration of keys begins via bank apps
Sept. 2025
Official launch of Bre-B with real-time payments, 24-7
Dec. 2025
First operating balance; initial tests of P2P QR code payments
H1 2026
Enablement of QR code payments between individuals
2026–2028
Expanding functionalities and public-private alliances
2029
Inception of applying operating charges per transaction to entities (not to users)

#4: Challenges that won’t go away: interoperability ≠ automatic adoption

Although Bre-B removes many technological barriers, mass adoption is not guaranteed. Structural challenges persist that must be proactively addressed if the system is to have a transformative impact:

Trust and digital culture gaps. A relevant segment of the population remains distrustful of electronic payments or unfamiliar with digital environments. Financial education will be as important as the infrastructure itself.

Cybersecurity and impersonation. The use of keys such as cell phone numbers or IDs is convenient, but can also be exploited by malicious actors. Fraud prevention, robust authentication and good security practices will be critical to avoid compromising the trust of the system.

Sustainability of the free model. Although Bre-B will be free for users (Individuals) until 2029, entities will need to plan how to monetize complementary services, such as scheduled or recurring payments or bulk collections using APIs; all this must occur without hampering the experience or curbing usage by the most cost-sensitive segments.

Local realities different from the reference models. Although Bre-B is often compared to Pix, the current conditions in Colombia are substantially different from those in Brazil in 2020, when Pix was launched. At that time, despite having a solid payments infrastructure—such as boletos bancários, digital wallets and more than two million POS terminals—there was a clear need in Brazil for Pix. Why? Because there was no free, immediate and interoperable system for bank transfers. In Colombia, on the other hand, methods such as PSE, QR payments and physical networks such as Efecty do exist, but they have less integration and lack a universal standard of interoperability. Therefore, Bre-B doesn’t fill a glaring gap in the market as Pix did in Brazil. Instead, it will compete with existing solutions—mainly with cash. Its success will depend less on filling a structural gap and more on offering a superior experience that motivates users to migrate.

#5: Predictions on the Impact of Bre-B on the Payments Ecosystem in Colombia

The deployment of Bre-B promises to gradually transform the payments ecosystem in Colombia. However, its effects will not be homogeneous: they will depend on factors such as user familiarity with existing means, pressure to reduce costs in certain verticals, and the ability of institutions to integrate this infrastructure into their channels.

In the next table we offer a series of predictions organized by environment or subject matter. We’re forecasting changes in the mix of payment methods, in acceptance in physical and digital commerce, and in interoperability between institutions. We’re also looking at the monetization and retention strategies that banks and gateways could adopt with the advent of Bre-B.