China’s UnionPay International plans to connect Chinese payment apps to Pix, the Brazilian payment system at the centre of Washington’s trade case against Brasilia, allowing Chinese tourists to pay by scanning a code.
Under the pilot, users of the UnionPay app and of Chinese bank apps linked to its platform would scan a merchant’s code and pay from the account they use at home.
Chinese state media reported that access would later extend to other digital wallets in UnionPay’s global network.
Pix has become the default way Brazilians move money since the central bank launched it in November 2020. The system transfers funds between any two accounts in seconds, at any hour, and costs individuals nothing.
It now reaches about 15 million merchants, from department stores to street vendors, and has pushed cash and cheques to the margins of the economy.
The central bank both regulates Brazil’s payment industry and runs Pix inside it, a dual role that American card companies say tilted the market against them.