América, América
Real-time payments and A2A digital wallets in Latin America
Latin America is famed for the success of the Pix real-time clearing system in Brazil and the associated ecosystem of participants and digital wallets which generate 6bn payments monthly... and rising.
However, in addition, a growing number of other Latin American countries are adopting real-time payments with gusto. Volumes are driven by the familiar usage of Account-to-Account (A2A) payments in digital wallets across a range of payment uses from in-store, on-the-street to online, remote P2P and more.
Argentina in particular is racing ahead, through its Transferencias 3.0 real-time system, launched in 2020, making a major impact on economic life and the payments landscape there.
In this article I cover real-time payments in Latin America using the same metrics and method in previous articles on Europe and Asia Pacific1.
Real-Time Payments Landscape in Latin America
Table 1 lists the real-time A2A clearing systems and digital wallets in 11 countries (out of 20) in Latin America (excluding the Caribbean islands), covering 537mn people or 81% of the region’s population. Like Brazil and Argentina, all launched in the last decade with the exception of SPEI in Mexico which started in 2004 and moved to 24/7 real-time operation in 2015.
Table 1 – Countries with real-time clearing systems and A2A digital wallets in Latin America
Table 1 shows that many countries in Latin America operating real-time A2A payment clearing systems leverage them with A2A digital wallets. In common with many other countries elsewhere in the world, especially Asia, these wallets are becoming very popular, such as Mercado Pago across the region, PicPay in Brazil, Yape and Plin in Peru and Nequi in Colombia.
Real-Time Payments per Capita
Figure 1 shows the real-time payments per capita for eight countries where data is readily available (leaving out Chile, Colombia and Uruguay where data is difficult to find).
Figure 1 - Real-time payments per capita Latin America, including on-us bank payments
Pix in Brazil has the highest real-time payments per capita at 298, followed by Argentina which has exactly half at 149 real-time payments per capita. Costa Rica has high usage also, at 126 real-time payments per capita with the SINPE Móvil wallet that has been in operation since 2015.
The lowest figure is from Honduras at just below three real-time payments per capita in 2024. Although its ACH Pronto system has been operational since 2019, it is useable only through bank apps. Non-bank Fintechs are unable to integrate wallets with it and bank apps lack capabilities for everyday use such as QR codes in store and online.
As with countries in other regions, the use of QR codes with real-time payments and digital wallets features strongly in the higher volume Latin America countries and is a key factor in driving volumes. For example, Argentina which uses a common QR standard set by BCRA, the central bank.
Overall, in 2024 there were 74bn real-time payments in Latin America, 63bn contributed by Brazil.
Mercado Pago
Mercado Pago is a digital wallet used in seven countries in Latin America. It is a subsidiary of Mercado Libre, the region's largest e-commerce platform (the “Amazon of Latin America”). Its support A2A payments, cards, P2P payments and a range of financial services. Table 2 lists its coverage and wallet features.
The degree to which Mercado Pago wallets can be used across borders to purchase from merchants and for P2P payments between the seven countries is unclear but I understand cross-border interoperability is limited at the moment.
Table 2 – Mercado Pago country coverage and digital wallet features
In Q1 2025, Mercado Pago processed 3.3bn payments (excluding P2P), a 38% increase on Q1 20242. The split between A2A and card payments is unspecified. However, assuming a 25% - 50% split (for context, A2A payments in Brazil are close to card payment volumes, possibly higher), the Mercado Pago wallet may initiate roughly 4% - 8% of real-time payments in Latin America.
International Comparison
Table 3 compares the real-time payments per capita for Latin America with the regions covered in previous articles. Asia Pacific has the highest at 499 real-time payments per capita (reducing to 113 if China is excluded). Europe lags behind both regions, while the UK (included in the Europe figure), a pioneer in real-time payment systems is at 75, ahead of Europe as a whole (but still behind many European countries) and behind the Latin American average.
Table 3 – Real-time payments per capita regional comparison3
Cash Withdrawals per Capita
As with previous articles, Figure 2 shows the average cash withdrawals per capita for those countries in Table 1 where data is available.
Figure 2 – Annual cash withdrawals per capita in Latin America (ATM, agent and bank branch)
Cash withdrawals are only an approximate indicator of cash usage. The metric is used best for year-on-year comparisons. Geographically, Latin America is comparable with Europe at 15 cash withdrawals per capita each and higher than Asia Pacific which averaged 7 in 2024.
Regional Growth
At 298 real-time payments per capita, Brazil sets the pace for the region, indicating there is plenty of growth still to come across Latin America. Brazil itself is growing strongly with Pix volumes4 in the first quarter of 2025 up 29% on the same period in 2024.
Countries across Latin America have been inspired by Pix’s success and its impact on financial and digital inclusion. An example is Peru which signed an agreement with UPI International last year to implement a version of India’s UPI by 20275. Expect to see more developments in the region for real-time clearing and A2A digital wallets over the coming year and higher volumes.
Conclusion
Latin America provides further evidence that A2A, real-time digital wallets are the biggest driving force in payments today, with widespread use and high volumes across the region. Brazil is well known as a world leader in real-time payments but also, real-time payments are entrenched across Latin America and developing fast in many countries.
The region shows adoption is higher for countries with digital wallets designed for everyday purchases, in-person and online compared to those where real-time payments are confined to online banking and mobile banking apps. In particular, wallets which use QR codes for accepting payments make a big difference (a subject I will focus on in a later article), as do non-bank digital wallets linked to bank accounts.
Mercado Pago is proof that digital wallets can operate in multiple countries at scale and is good example of how a cards-based acquirer can transition to include A2A payments for ecommerce.
Brazil, Argentina and Costa Rica lead the way in real-time payment adoption on a per capita basis, with Bolivia and Mexico in the vanguard and looking poised to catch up. I will report back on progress in a year’s time (May 2026) and expect to see significant growth and even a few additions.
So far, I have covered real-time payments per capita in Asia Pacific, Europe and Latin America. Africa, North America and the Middle East will follow.
Mercado Libre shareholder letter Q1 2025: https://investor.mercadolibre.com/sites/mercadolibre/files/mercadolibre/result/meli-q125-letter-to-shareholders.pdf
Real-time payments include A2A payments between bank accounts, between non-bank (stored value) accounts and between bank accounts and non-bank accounts. Regional averages are weighted by country population (for those countries with a real-time payments system). This analysis excludes population and payments data for Russia and Ukraine
Barazil Central Bank Pix statistics: https://www.bcb.gov.br/en/financialstability/pixstatistics