Colombia

Bre-B is on Pix-trajectory at the seven-month mark

Banco de la República's February 2026 working paper records 370 million Bre-B transactions in the first four months after full-scale launch (October 2025 to January 2026), rising to over 500 million by early April. The 218-participant scope and 103 million aliases compress what took Pix two years to assemble into roughly six months. The chief difference from Pix is that Bre-B builds on top of pre-existing private clearing houses (ACH Colombia, Redeban, Credibanco) rather than a single central-bank operated stack.

Nequi-Daviplata duopoly defines the consumer wallet

Nequi reached 26 million registered users by mid-2025 with approximately 20 million monthly actives; Daviplata reported 19 million customers. Together they cover roughly 45 million distinct Colombians — three-quarters of the adult population — and the January 2025 Bancolombia-Davivienda interoperability deal eliminated friction between the two. Both are now Bre-B participants and the rail is increasingly the back-end for what users still experience as a wallet-to-wallet transfer.

US corridor remains the dominant cross-border channel

Remittance inflows into Colombia reached US$11.8 billion in 2024 according to Banco de la República balance-of-payments data, with the United States accounting for ~62% of inflows. Florida, New Jersey and New York are the principal origins; payout into Nequi, Daviplata and bank deposit accounts has displaced cash-pickup. The corridor is now a major contested terrain for fintech remitters (Remitly, Wise, Pomelo).

Bre-B's first wave focused on P2P; merchant-presented QR and request-to-pay roll-out are scheduled for 2026 H2. Acquiring incumbents (Redeban, Credibanco) and PSPs that integrate Bre-B as a card-alternative checkout option ahead of full SCT can capture the early SMB merchant migration. The MDR arbitrage versus card (Bre-B is fee-capped at central-bank-determined levels) is the headline economic.

The Sociedad Especializada en Depósitos y Pagos Electrónicos (SEDPE) charter created under Decreto 222/2020 lets non-banks issue deposit accounts without a full banking licence. Nequi (formerly a Bancolombia product, now a Bancolombia-owned SEDPE since 2022), MOVii, Movilred and Tpaga operate under this framework. Capital requirements are roughly one-tenth of a full bank and the licence is the lowest-friction route for foreign fintechs (Nubank, Mercado Pago) to deepen Colombian operations.

Of the US$7bn US-CO remittance flow, roughly US$2bn still routes through MTOs at 4-6% all-in cost. Direct credit into Nequi or Daviplata at under 1% via Wise, Remitly and Pomelo-style integrations now competes head-on with Western Union and MoneyGram. Bre-B settlement once cross-border integration with US bank rails matures (2027 study) will compress the corridor further.