Receivables market has potential of R$1.8 trillion

Every time a consumer uses a card to pay for a purchase, they generate a credit for the seller. These credits are known in the financial system as receivablesbecause they will go into the seller's account in the future. Since 2021, the Central Bank (BC) and the National Monetary Council (CMN) have instituted rules to make this market more reliable and competitive. Today, according to the Central Bank's calculations, the receivables market in Brazil has a potential turnover of R$ 1.8 trillion per year.

The seller can negotiate the anticipation of receivables, both those already registered on the machines and those to be set up, estimated according to the business's revenue history. This is an increasingly popular form of credit, especially among small and medium-sized businesses, due to its agility and less bureaucracy compared to traditional bank credit, say financial market agents. 

"Receivables can be used as a source of financing and make it possible to offer credit at a lower cost, a significant advantage to consider, especially for small and medium-sized companies," says Diego Camacho, CEO of WMoney, the Entre Group's direct lending platform (P2P) between investors and borrowers. "It's one of the most effective ways of democratizing access to credit," says Antonio Carlos Freixo Junior, Mineiro, CEO of Grupo Entre.

According to B3, every card transaction, whether debit or credit, generates a payment obligation from the accreditor/sub-accreditor (the machine company) to the merchant: card receivables. These assets must be registered with registry institutions such as B3. From there, they can be negotiated, either in advance or as collateral when taking out credit from banks and non-financial companies.

To do this, the merchant can allow only the lenders they are interested in to view their payment schedule. After the negotiation, the lender registers the operation so that it is visible to the entire market. In this way, the amount committed in the operation is only what is in the contract, and not the entire schedule, as was the case before the new BC and CMN rules. This gives lenders security when granting credit and gives commercial establishments more freedom to manage their cash flow.

According to RTM (a technology infrastructure company), the registrar functions as a kind of notary's office in which all these agendas, as well as any changes, are registered uniquely. In addition to B3, Núclea, a TAG and Cerc are also some of the registrars authorized by the Central Bank.

_{Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya}