Brazil Authorizes The Use of Self-Service Terminals For Manual Exchange Transactions

At a meeting held on July 26, 2012 the Brazilian Monetary Council (Conselho Monetário Nacional - CMN) approved measures that simplify the foreign exchange (fx) transactions of small value and provide more access alternatives and greater reach to the Brazilian fx market.

CMN Resolution No. 4113/2012 allows that manual exchange transactions (operações de câmbio manual) be carried out through a bank note vending machine (máquina dispensadora de cédulas), provided that the clients are duly identified in the manner specified by the Central Bank of Brazil (Banco Central do Brasil - Bacen). Pursuant to the current regulations, the agents authorized to operate in the fx market1 (authorized agents) shall comply with the rules to perfectly identify their clients as well as to assess the responsibility of the appropriate parties regarding the legality of the operations performed.

Each client can purchase and sale foreign currency through a bank note vending machine up to the limit of US$ 3,000.00 (or its equivalent in other foreign currency) for each operation. Within this ceiling the transaction is considered of small value. In any case the client must be perfectly identified, as explained above, but the authorized agent is waived from the submission of the documentation regarding the underlying legal act to the exchange transaction, as well as from the custody of the client's identification documents2.

Furthermore, CMN Resolution No. 4114/2012 eliminated the current restriction on the type of company that can be hired as a correspondent to perform manual exchange transactions3.

These measures are in line with the actions adopted by the Brazilian Federal Government to simplify and modernize the exchange market in our jurisdiction and, without sacrificing security, they will enable the creation of a network compatible with tourist centers of various sizes, providing the expansion of capillarity and the increase in tourism expected in the sporting events that Brazil will host in the coming years, namely the 2014 World Cup and the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

Footnotes

1 The matter is governed by article 18 of CMN Resolution No. 3568, of May 29, 2008, that regulates the Brazilian fx market. According to the provisions of article 2 of CMN Resolution...