In general, financial institutions offer a broader range of services because, in addition to providing banking services (such as current and savings accounts), they can also offer loans and investments.

Payment institutions, on the other hand, focus more specifically on facilitating and processing financial transactions. Their main focus is on operations involving transfers, payments, issuance, and acceptance of payment instruments (such as credit, debit, and prepaid cards), electronic transfers, and digital wallets.

When we think of regulated institutions, banks come to mind first. However, there is a wide range of institutions subject to regulation by the Central Bank. These include:

Consortium Administrator: organizes and administers groups of individuals interested in acquiring goods or services through collective financing (consortium).

Fiduciary Agent: an entity that assumes the responsibility of protecting the rights of securities investors.

Development Agency: an institution whose objective is to promote economic and social development by providing financing and support to companies, especially small and medium-sized enterprises.

Savings and Loan Association: a specialized financial institution focused on raising funds through savings and providing loans, with a focus on real estate financing.

Commercial Bank: offers basic banking services such as current accounts, loans, and financing for both individuals and businesses.

Cooperative Bank: an entity operated by its own customers, who are also owners, and operates based on cooperative principles.

Exchange Bureau: specialized in currency exchange operations, such as buying and selling foreign currencies, international remittances, among other related services.

Development Bank: responsible for financing and promoting projects aimed at economic, social, and environmental development in the country.

Investment Bank: focused on investment operations, mergers and acquisitions, raising funds for companies, and structuring complex financial transactions.

Multiple Bank: a financial institution that can act as a commercial bank, investment bank, and development bank within the same organization.

Savings Bank: offers banking services but is also responsible for government social programs and housing-related operations such as real estate financing.

Mortgage Company: specializes in real estate financing operations, with a primary focus on providing credit for property acquisition.

Services Confederation: formed to provide services related to the activities carried out by central credit cooperatives or by individual cooperatives affiliated with their central cooperatives.

Credit Cooperative: an organization operated and owned by its own customers, offering banking services such as loans and accounts.

Data Management Entity: responsible for managing credit information, such as payment history and debts, for credit risk analysis.

Payment Arrangement Initiator: an entity that creates and manages payment arrangements.

Payment Institution: responsible for offering payment services such as transfers, card issuance, and account management without engaging in traditional banking activities.

Currency Exchange Brokerage: specialized in currency exchange operations, facilitating foreign currency transactions and related services.

Securities and Bonds Brokerage Firm: facilitates the purchase and sale of securities and bonds, acting as an intermediary between investors and issuers.

Leasing Company: offers leasing and mercantile leasing for asset acquisition, serving as an alternative to traditional financing.

Microentrepreneur Credit Society: focuses on providing credit and financial services to microentrepreneurs, supporting the development of this segment.

Direct Credit Society: provides direct financing to individuals or companies, operating exclusively through digital platforms.

Real Estate Credit Society: specializes in real estate financing, offering credit for property acquisition, construction, or renovation.

Credit, Financing, and Investment Society: offers credit, financing, and investment services to individuals and legal entities.

Peer-to-Peer Lending Platform: an online platform that connects people who want to lend money with people who want to borrow.

Securities and Bonds Distribution Company: responsible for distributing and intermediating securities and bonds in the financial market.

A payment arrangement is a set of rules and procedures that dictate the norms of a payment system. For example, the rules established by a specific card brand to regulate the use of its cards or the rules governing the operation of Pix established by the Central Bank.

A payment arrangement is not a market player in itself; it does not conduct its own activities. Instead, it is responsible for foreseeing (and managing) the rules that the companies within the arrangement must follow.

Not all payment arrangements are directly subject to the rules of the Central Bank.

Based on the payment services they provide, payment institutions are classified into:

Acquirer (also known as an acquiring institution): enables establishments to accept instruments bearing the brand's logo as a means of payment for their products and services. Its role is to capture the transaction, route it to the card network and the issuer for authorization, process the transaction, and ultimately settle payments to the establishment, net of contractually agreed fees and charges.

Postpaid Payment Instrument Issuer: is the issuer of credit and/or debit cards. Its role is to provide the payment instrument to cardholders (which may or may not be physical cards), managing it. The cardholder makes a purchase transaction, and the corresponding amount is settled later, regardless of pre-deposited funds.

Electronic Money Issuer: is the issuer of prepaid cards. The cardholder deposits funds into a payment account and uses the preloaded funds to make transactions at establishments or for other purposes defined by the issuer, such as bill payments, mobile top-ups, transfers to third parties.

Payment Transaction Initiator: a role that has emerged especially due to open finance, its responsibility is to facilitate the initiation of a payment transaction but without managing accounts or accessing the funds being transacted.

The capital market is an environment where the trading of securities such as stocks, bonds, derivative contracts, and other long-term financial instruments takes place.

Its main purpose is to facilitate the raising of funds for companies and entities and, in return, offer investment opportunities to investors interested in deploying their money into different financial instruments.

In general, securities can be traded among investors on organized markets like the Stock Exchange, providing liquidity to financial assets, enabling them to be quickly converted into cash.

Asset prices are determined based on supply and demand, reflecting investors' expectations and assessments of the future performance of companies and traded securities.

The capital market is regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which establishes rules and regulations to ensure transparency, investor protection, and the smooth functioning of the market.

Securities are titles or contracts that confer rights of participation, partnership, or credit to their holders. This includes:

Stocks: certificates representing a fraction of a company's share capital, granting participation rights in profits and, in some cases, in the company's decisions.

Debt Securities: represent a loan made by the investor to the issuing company, such as bonds, promissory notes, financial notes, among others.

Derivative Contracts: include options, futures contracts, swaps, among others, whose value is based on the performance of an underlying asset.

Mutual Fund Units: parts of an investment fund that pools resources from various investors to invest in different financial assets.

Commercial Papers: short-term securities issued by companies to raise funds in the financial market.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regulates the issuance, distribution, trading, and information related to these securities, aiming to protect investors and ensure transparency in the capital market.

Open finance is an initiative aimed at promoting the secure and standardized opening and sharing of financial data among different financial institutions, companies, and end-users.

Through open finance, customers have greater control and access to their financial information, allowing them to authorize the sharing of this data among different financial service providers. This enables the creation of more personalized solutions, better financial product offerings, and a more integrated experience for users while ensuring data protection, privacy, and confidentiality.

The central idea is to stimulate innovation in the financial sector, foster competition among institutions, and provide consumers with more options and conveniences in managing their finances.

Drex is the digital representation of the Brazilian Real. It replicates the national currency in a tokenized form, maintaining parity with physical currency but enabling its trading on digital platforms.

With Drex, it will be possible to conduct financial transactions quickly and securely with digital assets, which will be settled by banks within the Drex Platform, developed by the Central Bank using distributed ledger technology (DLT).

Access to the Drex Platform will be exclusively through a financial intermediary authorized by the Central Bank. Funds deposited in the account can be transferred to the respective Drex digital wallet, allowing for transactions with digital assets.

There is currently no specific launch date for Drex, as it is still in the testing phase in a restricted environment. The Central Bank's intention is to begin testing with the general population by the end of 2024, provided that the project and market participants have reached an appropriate level of maturity.