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Pix limits: what changes in your fintech app
Pix limits change on October 1, 2026, when BCB Normative Instruction No. 746 takes effect (Pix is Brazil's instant payment system, run by the Central Bank, BCB). Contactless Pix loses its own cap of US$ 100 (500 reais) per transaction and follows the account's general limits. For a fintech, that calls for a review of the limits engine, the My Pix Limits menu and customer support.
The September 2026 coverage explained the change for people who pay. What was missing was the side of whoever offers the account: what to change in the product and what to leave alone.
At Wama, financial products are delivered projects: in 2025 the studio designed and developed the app for Cappta, a payment institution that offers payment acquiring and a white-label digital account, with the interfaces designed in Figma. This article is a technical slice of the guide to the fintech website and what the rules require of it.
What changes in Pix limits on October 1, 2026?
BCB Normative Instruction No. 746, of June 16, 2026, amends BCB NI No. 512/2024, the rule that sets Pix value limits. It revokes three provisions and adjusts the wording of two others, effective October 1, 2026. The practical effect is just one: contactless stops being a special case.
NI 512 provision | Until September 30, 2026 | From October 1, 2026 |
|---|---|---|
Art. 16-A | Cap of US$ 100 (500 reais) per contactless transaction, with a daily limit set by the user | Revoked: contactless follows the account's general limits |
Art. 16-C | The same cap applied to Pix initiated through shared payment initiation without redirection, whatever the mechanism | Revoked |
Art. 10, § 2, VI | The limits management menu had to offer increases and decreases of the contactless limit | Revoked: the item is no longer mandatory |
Art. 12 | Limit increases granted at the institution's discretion, including the contactless one | Still at the institution's discretion, without contactless on the list |
Art. 16-B stays in force: the institution can't set a different limit for Pix initiated by a payment initiation service. Before touching the menu, check what the experience manual already standardizes on the Pix screen.
What doesn't change, despite what you may have read
Managing the Pix Automático (recurring Pix) limit isn't new in October. Part of the September 2026 coverage treated as new the ability to request an increase or decrease of that limit and to register payees with their own limit. Both items were already in BCB NI No. 512 and, for Pix Automático, have applied since June 16, 2025, under Art. 18 of the rule itself.
What NI 746 did with those items was tidy up the list after removing the contactless item. For the product, that avoids rework. If your fintech's app already shows the Pix Automático limit separately from the others and responds to increase requests within eight hours, nothing there needs to change.
Anyone using Pix Automático for recurring billing on a subscription product has an extra reason to look at that limit. The rule says to consider the limit on the settlement date (Art. 9, § 2), so a payer's low limit can block that month's charge.
Who needs to change the app?
The rule applies to the institution that is a transactional account provider in Pix and serves individuals (Art. 2 of NI 512). That institution has to offer limits management in the app used to initiate a Pix, as described in the Minimum User Experience Requirements manual (Art. 10, §§ 1 and 4).
There's an exemption relevant to white-label operators: a participant that uses a mobile app provided by another Pix participant is outside this obligation (Art. 10, § 5). So October's question depends on who owns the app. If your company offers accounts under a partner institution's license, check the contract for who is responsible for that screen, the subject of what changes when a fintech uses a partner institution's license.
Stric, infrastructure that lets companies operate as white-label digital banks, got branding, SaaS platform design and a website from Wama in 2026. In that setup, each brand needs to know whether the screen is its responsibility or the partner's.
What to review in the limits engine and the My Pix Limits menu
Order matters: first the rule on the server, then the screen, and finally support.
Remove the US$ 100 (500 reais) cap on the server. The rule for contactless and for the no-redirect flow comes out of the code, and the transaction starts consuming the period limit, like any purchase or transfer Pix (Art. 3).
Separate individual payees from business payees. To pay an individual at night, the limit is US$ 200 (1,000 reais), unless the user expressly requests otherwise (Art. 3, § 7). For a business, the limit is daily (Art. 3, § 8), and a contactless purchase usually has a business on the other end.
Retire the dedicated contactless control. The My Pix Limits menu in version 7.3 of the Pix experience manual, from December 2025, has no contactless item. In Wama's reading, since Art. 16-B prohibits a different limit for Pix initiated by an initiation service, removing the control is safer than renaming it; confirm with the institution's legal team.
Fix copy and messages. Help content, in-app FAQs and decline messages that mention US$ 100 (500 reais) become wrong on October 1.
Prepare support. Customers will ask why a contactless purchase was declined without the old cap. The answer is in the period limit, and the agent needs to know where it is in the app.
Who runs the review
When Wama takes on a product project, a single person follows it from brief to deploy, with no account-management layer between whoever decides and whoever executes. That setup shortens the path between reading the rule and changing the code. AI comes in for code and automation, and every result goes through human review before reaching the client, because money rules aren't validated by sampling.
A rule change mid-contract also needs a written rule: spell out what the contract with your development partner should cover when the regulation changes, and review the security and app store requirements for a financial app at the same time.
What deadlines does the limits screen need to meet?
NI 512 sets different deadlines for each user request, and NI 746 doesn't change any of them. A request with no deadline visible on screen turns into a support ticket.
User request | Deadline in NI 512 | Where it is |
|---|---|---|
Decrease of any limit | Immediate | Art. 11 |
Increase of general, withdrawal and cash-back, and Scheduled Pix limits | Response and change within 24 to 48 hours, if granted | Art. 12, § 1 |
Increase of the Pix Automático limit | Within 8 hours at most, if granted | Art. 12, § 2 |
Registering an account or payee with its own limit | Takes effect within 24 to 48 hours | Art. 14 |
Changing the start of the nighttime period | Takes effect within 24 to 48 hours | Art. 13 |
Manual 7.3 requires the user to be told, when registering a new account, that registration will be completed in 24 to 48 hours.
For Milhas Pix, a marketplace for buying and selling airline miles with payment via Pix, Wama designed everything in 2025 from the acquisition page to the offer management and transaction tracking screens. In the studio's view, a transaction status needs copy, a deadline and a next step, because people dealing with money don't wait in silence.
Common mistakes in the Pix limits change
Hiding the field and keeping the rule. The menu looks right and the server keeps declining the US$ 120 (600 reais) contactless purchase.
Treating the change as an unlocked limit. Removing the cap doesn't raise anything by itself: the transaction now follows the period limit the institution set for the account.
Rebuilding Pix Automático for no reason. Managing that limit has been required since June 2025, and NI 746 didn't change the eight-hour deadline.
Forgetting third-party code. A wallet SDK or vendor layer may have the US$ 100 (500 reais) cap hard-coded, and the review means knowing who controls the code that applies the rule.
Frequently asked questions
Will contactless Pix have no limit from October?
No. From October 1, 2026, contactless Pix loses its own cap of US$ 100 (500 reais) per transaction, but it remains subject to the account limits set by the institution, by period and by payee type. A nighttime limit of US$ 200 (1,000 reais) for paying individuals still applies, unless the user asks to change it.
Did BCB NI 746 create Pix Automático limit management?
No. Pix Automático limit management has been in BCB NI 512 since June 16, 2025, with a response to increase requests within eight hours at most, when granted. NI 746 only adjusted the wording of the list of mandatory items after revoking the contactless item.
My fintech uses another institution's app. Does anything need to change?
The obligation to offer limits management doesn't apply to those using an app provided by another Pix participant (Art. 10, § 5 of NI 512). Even so, the brand's help content and support scripts that mention the US$ 100 (500 reais) cap need to change.
How long does the institution have to change a Pix limit?
A decrease is immediate. An increase of general limits, if accepted, happens within 24 to 48 hours; the Pix Automático one, within eight hours. Registering an account or payee with its own limit and changing the start of the nighttime period take effect within 24 to 48 hours, according to BCB NI 512.
How much does it cost to build a fintech app that's compliant from day one?
It depends on the number of flows and how much of it is regulated. As a reference, Wama's general range for SaaS and custom software is US$ 4,000 to US$ 20,000, and it can reach US$ 40,000 depending on complexity. The details are in what drives the investment in a first version.
If your fintech is going to review its app for the October limits or design a product that's compliant from day one, talk to Wama and bring the list of Pix screens to the first meeting.
