The federal government is studying a proposal to allow companies to use future revenue streams from Pix as a guarantee for bank loans. The measure is discussed in the working group (GT) created by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) to reduce the banking spread and lower the cost of credit.
The banking spread is the difference between the interest charged by banks when lending money and the interest paid by them to raise funds. The GT was formed after President Lula met, last month, with the CEOs of the country's largest banks.
The idea is to create a model similar to what already exists for guarantees of credit card receivables — used by retail companies, for example, which receive in advance from financial institutions the resources to be paid in installments by customers.
“If we manage to create a similar system for Pix, it will be transformative”, he says. Sheet the Secretary of Economic Reforms of the Ministry of Finance, Marcos Barbosa Pinto.
Barbosa Pinto says that the measure can mainly benefit MEIs (Individual Microentrepreneurs), as well as micro and small entrepreneurs, who have more difficulty obtaining credit.
According to the secretary, spreads in the credit card receivables market are much lower today because a system was developed that provides greater security for financing.
The model under discussion involves the creation of a mechanism that is self-executing, functioning more or less like a payroll loan for micro and small businesses.
“A company, for example, tells the bank: I'm going to give you my flow of receivables from Pix as collateral for the loan”, says the minister's secretary Fernando Haddad (Finance).
To get the system up and running, it will be necessary to design a legal and information technology architecture. Barbosa Pinto predicts a significant drop in the banking spread for the small business segment.
In the secretary's assessment, the creation of the group increases institutional and political support for the credit stimulus agenda that is in Congress.
The Treasury's goal is to cut the total banking spread in half with the credit agenda and, in this way, increase GDP (Gross Domestic Product) by another 3%. This agenda includes projects already approved in Congress, such as the new guarantee framework.
With the Selic rate raised by the Central Bank, measures to reduce banking spreads gained greater relevance. As revealed by SheetPresident Lula demands faster work from the group.
The first meeting of the GT took place last week, in São Paulo, at Febraban (Brazilian Federation of Banks). A second meeting took place this Monday (11), when the main topics of discussion for preparing the proposals were defined.
Among them, the creation of innovative instruments for Pix, as a guarantee for financing for micro and small companies, and for the registration of book-entry duplicates.
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Other topics of discussion are the improvement of private payroll loans and improving credit and salary portability to increase competition between banks.
According to the secretary, private payroll loans are very important to reduce costs for individuals and can be transformative in this area. “Not only because of the mitigation of default risk that consignment provides, but also because it reduces the informational advantage of large banks. With private consignment, smaller banks and fintechs will be able to access workers who receive salaries in other banks. This will allow them access a new customer base, increasing competition in the banking system.”
The closed schedule for the GT foresees the presentation of the proposals on March 10, during the meeting of the CDESS (Council for Sustainable Economic and Social Development), the Council. A preview of the results can be presented at the December Council meeting.
The GT's discussions prioritized six axes for defining the proposals: preventing and combating fraud; default and costs associated with losses from credit operations; innovative instruments and credit for micro, small and medium-sized companies; access to data and digital platforms; administrative, financial and tax costs and competitiveness in the financial industry.
