The European Central Bank (ECB) is examining a possible connection between its TARGET Instant Payment Settlement platform, known as TIPS, and Brazil’s Pix system. If the work advances, the link would be the first major cross-border expansion of Pix and one of several corridors the Eurosystem is testing with foreign instant payment networks.
The talks remain early. An ECB document obtained by Folha de S. Paulo places Pix in a pre-investigation phase covering legal, technical, security and operational issues, with that review expected to wrap up in September 2026.
Asked about the document, the ECB confirmed that a preliminary investigation is under way into a possible interlinking of TIPS and Pix. It had already listed Pix in June as a “currency corridor under exploration.”
Brazil’s central bank has not commented publicly, though nine of its departments have been assigned to study governance rules and whether the two systems can work together.
People familiar with the discussions say a pilot could start in 2028 if the project stays on track.
Folha’s reporting points to June 2028 as the working date for an operational trial.
In practical terms, the connection would let someone with a Brazilian account pay at a European terminal and have the funds leave that account almost at once, with settlement running through the two central bank platforms rather than through card networks or correspondent banks.
The idea fits a wider TIPS strategy.
The platform already settles instant euro payments and is adding multi-currency features.
Other corridors under review include India’s UPI, which is furthest along and targeting a pilot in the first half of 2027; Switzerland’s SIC-IP; and the multilateral Nexus network.
Pix is still the least advanced of those files.
For Brasília, the European talks sit inside a larger international push.
Pix, launched in November 2020, has become the main way Brazilians send and receive money.
Person-to-person transfers are free and available around the clock. Merchant fees are far lower than those charged by traditional card schemes.
Adoption has pulled tens of millions of people into digital accounts and reduced the country’s reliance on cash and on global card brands.
In August the Brazilian central bank said linking instant-payment systems could cut costs, speed transfers, widen access and make cross-border payments more transparent.
It has also signed information-sharing accords on Pix with 65 foreign counterparts.
The project is unfolding in a charged political setting.
Washington has treated Pix as an unfair practice that disadvantages US payment firms and used that claim in a trade dispute that produced new tariffs on Brazilian goods.
European officials, for their part, have their own reasons to build public payment infrastructure that is less dependent on non-European networks.
None of this is settled. Currency conversion, legal liability, data rules, costs and operational resilience still have to be worked through. Even so, the fact that Frankfurt and Brasília are mapping a corridor shows how instant-payment systems are starting to look past their home markets.