Ant International gets Payment Institution licence from Brazil’s Central Bank

Ant International has received a Payment Institution (PI) licence from the Central Bank of Brazil, giving it a cleaner regulatory footing for local and cross-border payment services in one of the more active digital payments markets in Latin America. For high-risk PSPs, the point is simple: the company can now deepen its Brazilian acquiring and account-service setup without relying only on its existing market presence through Antom.

1. Ant International said the licence will support “more reliable and comprehensive global payment and account services” for enterprises, platforms and SMEs in Brazil, according to Rodrigo Reif, General Manager, Ant International Brazil.
2. The company already offers services in the market through Antom, its merchant payment and digitalisation platform, which lets merchants accept PIX, credit cards, and a wide range of alternative payment methods.
3. Ant International’s broader business includes cross-border payments and account services, embedded credit and treasury services, plus finAI and blockchain solutions for clients across Asia, Europe and the Americas.
4. The company says it processes over 20 million transactions daily and connects 2 billion consumer accounts to 150 million global merchants through its digital payment ecosystem.
5. In Brazil, the PI licence is meant to strengthen both local and cross-border payment capabilities, which matters if you are mapping where a provider can actually operate under a central bank framework rather than just via commercial partnerships.

For PSPs and merchants watching Brazil, the practical detail is that PIX and cards are already in the mix, and a PI licence can matter as much for operational credibility as for product scope. The Central Bank of Brazil is now part of the setup, not just the background.