They noted that immediate payments can help combat excessive use of cash.
Presidents of some banking entities expressed at the Colombian Construction Congress, held in Barranquilla, their rejection of the possibility of the National Government imposing withholdings at source on digital wallet transactions such as the new Bre-B immediate payment system, among others.
“The news is surprising, we have been in the process of preparing Bre-B for years, which is a project of national strategic importance, also led by the Bank of the Republic, but with full participation from the financial sector. We have high hopes that this immediate payment system can help combat the excessive use of cash in the country and, through that, informality. Colombia emulated the Brazilian modelwhich is a model that in five years managed to reduce the use of cash from 80% to current levels of around 25%.”, stated César Prado, president of the Bogotá bank.
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He also indicated that, ““It is a terrible and inopportune signal, a product of the Government’s fiscal desperation.”
He recalled that Bre-B went into operation on October 6 and is still in its adoption stage by users.
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For his part, Javier Suárez, president of Davivienda, stated that the fiscal situation is complex and the Government is looking for alternatives.
“I fully agree with what César says, clearly This would go against a system that they are barely doing and that it has been set up under three fundamental assumptions, interoperability, immediacy and free of charge. If any of these three assumptions are not present, then the system ceases to be the system, all the effort being made loses meaning. Why are those three elements important? Because they make the movement of money much simpler, much more fluid, what is the consequence that the movement of money can occur with those attributes? Greater business volume,” he said.
Source: Integrated Information System
