The new rules reinforce the integrity and traceability of financial operations carried out by banks, fintechs, and payment institutions.

On November 3, 2025, the Central Bank of Brazil published a new set of regulations aimed at strengthening the integrity and traceability of financial transactions conducted by banks, fintechs, and payment institutions.

The measure is primarily preventive and corrective, focused on closing loopholes exploited by criminal organizations—especially regarding the so-called “pooled accounts”—and on modernizing the capital requirement criteria for regulated institutions.

The Issue with “Pooled Accounts”: A Mechanism for Concealment and Diversion

The central focus of the new regulation is the mandatory closure of pooled accounts used irregularly.

These accounts, typically opened by small fintechs at larger banks or payment institutions, function as a “collective deposit” aggregating funds from multiple clients without proper individualization. This setup prevents the bank from identifying the actual customers making transactions, as it sees the fintech as the sole account holder.

When used irregularly, pooled accounts allow financial services to be offered without legal authorization, making it difficult to identify the true beneficiaries and enabling the concealment of illicit funds—a situation that has been exploited by criminal organizations such as the PCC, according to police investigations.

With the new regulation, the Central Bank mandates that banks and payment institutions implement mechanisms to identify, notify, and close such accounts. It also requires clear internal criteria for selection and communication with affected customers.

It is important to clarify that the Central Bank does not prohibit the legitimate use of pooled accounts, recognizing their validity in regular commercial operations, such as in marketplaces that mediate third-party payments in a transparent and regulated manner.

What is being addressed is the misuse of this tool to disguise unlicensed financial activities.

Other Major Change: Minimum Capital and Net Worth Requirements

Another substantial change concerns the minimum capital and net worth requirements of supervised institutions.

Previously, the standard was mostly formal and typological, varying based on the type of institution (bank, fintech, payment institution). Under the new rule, the definition is now based on the actual activities performed by the institution, reflecting the true nature and operational risk of each business model.

For example, institutions heavily reliant on technological infrastructure—especially those offering services like Pix—must allocate a portion of their minimum capital to cover the costs associated with these services, thereby ensuring operational robustness and mitigating cyber risks.

Additionally, the Central Bank determined that institutions using the term “bank” in their name, in any language, will face higher capital requirements to ensure consistency between their public image and financial capacity.

Legal and Regulatory Impacts

The measure reinforces the responsibility of financial institutions to adopt administrative measures to prevent money laundering and the financing of illicit activities. It reaffirms the directive of Article 10 of Law 9,613/1998 (the Anti-Money Laundering Law), which imposes on banks the duty to identify clients, maintain records, and report suspicious transactions.

From a legal standpoint, the new rules may have significant contractual and corporate impacts, such as:

• Revision of operational contracts between fintechs and custodian banks;
• Adjustment of governance and compliance structures;
• Changes to capital and liquidity plans, possibly reducing the number of economically viable fintechs;
• Expansion of the Central Bank’s supervisory power, now requiring granular transparency in the origin and destination of funds moved.

The new set of regulations thus signals a paradigm shift, bringing Brazil closer to the regulatory practices of the Basel Committee and the FATF (Financial Action Task Force) standards for combating financial crime.

Conclusion

The Central Bank’s move is part of a broader institutional restructuring of the financial system, aiming to balance technological innovation with legal security.

The intensification of oversight over fintechs and payment institutions is both inevitable and necessary, given the sophistication of fraud mechanisms and the infiltration of organized crime into the digital space.

It is, therefore, a public policy initiative to strengthen systemic integrity, where the freedom to innovate must coexist with traceability, compliance, and enhanced due diligence.

In short: the Central Bank is not restricting innovation—it is demanding institutional maturity, making transparency a prerequisite for competitiveness.

The rules regarding the compulsory closure of accounts used for illicit purposes are found in CMN Resolution 5,261 and BCB Resolution 518.

The new rules on capital requirements are provided in Joint Resolution 14 and BCB Resolution 517, all available on the Central Bank’s official website.

Source: https://www.migalhas.com.br/depeso/444094/as-novas-regras-do-banco-central-para-bancos-e-fintechs