The aim is to boost financial inclusion in a country where more than 70% of transactions are still made in cash.
Bre-B is an ecosystem that the Bank of the Republic of Colombia has been developing for two years and that will change the way transactions are made in the coffee-growing country.
The system will allow transfers of up to $11,000,000 (US$ 2,583) in 20 seconds, to and from any financial institution, every day of the week and at any time, simply by entering a code, known as a key.
The aim is to boost financial inclusion in a country where more than 70% of transactions are still made in cash.
WHAT IS A KEY IN BRE-B?
It is basically the account identification, it can be the cell phone number, the ID, the email or an alphanumeric code.
WHEN CAN YOU START USING BRE-B?
From July 2025, users will be able to request their key (or keys, because they can have more than one and in different banks) from financial institutions and two months later (September 2025) the ecosystem will be turned on. By that date, they will be able to carry out transactions with Bre-B.
WHAT CHANGES WITH THE ARRIVAL OF BRE-B?
Although interoperability already exists in Colombia, with services such as Transfiya, with Bre-B the process will be simplified: in your financial institution's application you will find the logo ("Bre-B") and thus you will be able to send money to any financial institution by simply entering your key.
As Bancolombia explained on its website, one of the keys is the standardization of the user experience: in all applications, users will be able to make these transactions easily and under the same conditions.
Ana María Prieto, director of the Payment Systems Department at Banco de la República, explained it this way: “With Bre-B you can make a transaction, a payment, a transfer from any account to any account by entering only the key and you can do it 24 hours a day, seven days a week.”
WHAT IS DRIXI?
Drixi is a low-value immediate payment system, created by the Bank of the Republic of Colombia, to which financial institutions can be linked.
This system is added to four that already exist on the market: Visionamos, Transfiya, Redeban and Credibanco. These are, so to speak, the highway on which money is transported.
