How to get paid in Latin America, country by country
Mexico, Colombia, Argentina, Ecuador and Bolivia have different dominant methods. A guide to what to accept in each, and what changes at settlement.
Pagnovo Team · 2026-08-13
"Latin America" is not a market. It is a set of markets sharing a language and little else — each with its own dominant payment method, currency, exchange regime and buying behaviour.
Treating them all the same means competing at a disadvantage in all of them. This guide sums up what changes in each.
The pattern that repeats
Before the details, the general rule: across most of the region, the credit card is not the dominant method. Central bank instant systems, digital wallets and QR took that place over the past five years, exactly as PIX did in Brazil.
Selling there on international cards alone costs you on three fronts: the local issuer declines more, the buyer pays a foreign transaction fee, and you already paid for the traffic before finding out.
Mexico
Dominant method: SPEI, the Bank of Mexico's transfer system. It already moves more money than cards. Addressing: CLABE, 18 digits. Availability: 24 hours, 365 days — with the caveat that each bank keeps its own crediting hours. What changed in 2026: the MTU became mandatory, and anyone who never configured their own limit was left with an automatic cap of 1,500 UDIS (~MXN 12,800) per transaction. If your ticket runs above that, you will see limit declines from customers who have the money.
Colombia
The most fragmented market on the list — and the one that punishes single-method checkouts hardest. Bre-B: the central bank's interoperable instant system, live since 2025, addressed by llaves. Capped at 1,000 UVB per transaction (~COP 12.1 million in 2026). PSE: online bank debit, the established standard, without the Bre-B ceiling. Nequi: Bancolombia's wallet, strong among individuals and informal commerce.
Rule of thumb: Bre-B for consumer sales, PSE or transfer for high tickets, Nequi for reach.
Argentina
Dominant method: MercadoPago — not as a wallet, but as the place where people's money lives. Addressing: CVU or alias. What demands its own attention: settlement. The time between the sale and the conversion is a real exposure. Deciding how often you convert, and into what, matters as much as choosing the collection method.
Ecuador
The feature that changes everything: the country is dollarised. The official currency is the US dollar, so there is no conversion between the sale and the settlement. Methods: DEUNA (Banco Pichincha's wallet, by QR or link), cash across a network of physical points, and bank transfer. Watch out: cash still accounts for a meaningful share. Digital-only leaves sales on the table.
Bolivia
Dominant method: interoperable QR, mandatory across the entire financial system by central bank regulation. One code works for a customer of any institution. Scale: the value transacted by QR multiplied by 48 between 2021 and 2024. Also available: Vpay, inside the same ecosystem, and bank transfer.
Quick comparison
| Country | Currency | Dominant method | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mexico | MXN | SPEI | Automatic MTU cap |
| Colombia | COP | Bre-B / PSE | Bre-B per-transaction limit |
| Argentina | ARS | MercadoPago | FX exposure at settlement |
| Ecuador | USD | DEUNA / cash | Cash still relevant |
| Bolivia | BOB | Interoperable QR | — |
The decision almost nobody plans: where the money goes
Accepting the local method solves the way in. The way out is a separate decision, and it has to be made deliberately:
- Keeping local currency makes sense if you have local costs — team, suppliers, media.
- Settling via PIX brings the money into Brazil, straight into the company account.
- Settling in crypto is often the most efficient route in markets with restricted or volatile FX.
Not choosing is choosing. An idle balance in a volatile currency is a financial position, even when nobody decided to take it.
How to start without spreading thin
- Pick one country, not "the region". Find where you already get traffic that does not convert.
- Research how that market pays before translating the page.
- Add the local method before spending on media. Without it, you pay for clicks that do not convert.
- Define the settlement policy alongside the collection one.
- Measure approval by country, method and amount band. That is where the leak shows.
Our Global Processing covers these five countries with local methods, pay-in and pay-out, and settlement in local currency, PIX or crypto. Talk to our team to design the setup for your case.