Argentina's BCRA adds USD payroll accounts

The Central Bank of the Argentine Republic published Communication A 8465/2026 on Aug. 21, updating the minimum chart of accounts for financial institutions and the reference reporting regime. The rule also adds an accounting item for dollar-denominated payroll accounts and adjusts wage reporting to identify salaries paid in U.S. currency.

What changed in Communication A 8465?

The update adds item 315726, Payroll Account, to record dollar deposits in payroll accounts, and it adds credit type 3, Salary payment in U.S. dollars, to the remuneration payment reporting regime. According to the full text of the communication, the goal is to create specific traceability for those wages.

The Official Gazette also notes that the annexes were not published there and that the full documentation can be consulted in the BCRA's Prebisch Library or on the agency's website, in the Legal and Regulatory Framework section. The central bank backed that decision with Circular RUNOR 1-1965, which replaces pages in the consolidated text of Section 10 to align the reporting regime for wage payments made through bank account credits with the new categories and records.

Specialized business media interpreted Communication A 8465 as the formalization of an accounting and reporting framework aimed at enabling salary payments in dollars. That reading rests on the explicit identification of wages in that currency and the creation of a dedicated payroll account.

What about transfer-based collections for loans?

The BCRA ruled that, starting Aug. 31, 2026, banks and wallets must make the Cobro con Transferencia service available for collecting loan-related payments. Urgente24 reported that the mechanism was created by Communication A 8406 and is presented as a safer and more transparent option for recurring payments.

According to financial and general-interest media analysis, the setup works like an automatic debit for loan installments from CBU bank accounts or CVU payment service provider accounts, in the reverse logic of Pago con Transferencia. It is also compared with international models such as Brazil's Pix Automático and India's AutoPay.

Those same analyses say CCT applies only to loans with fixed, equal installments, allows up to three notices to the customer at 48-hour intervals before the debit, and does not allow past-due installments to be collected retroactively. In that case, another payment method must be agreed.

Coverage also points to operational limits. Balances in remunerated accounts, investments, MEP dollar transactions and crypto assets are excluded because they are not recorded directly in CBU or CVU accounts, but in brokerage accounts or other operating structures. La Nación added that the mechanism requires the customer's explicit, one-time, revocable authorization, sets a 30% cap between the installment and income when the loan is originated, limits the operation to regulated financial institutions and nonfinancial credit providers, establishes a minimum 0.6% fee paid by the lender, and assigns responsibility for fraud to the institution that granted the loan.

Are there doubts about implementation?

Yes. Infobae and iProfesional said that, although the rule sets Aug. 31 as the availability date, not all of the infrastructure appears to be ready in the financial system. Those reports point to a gap between the regulatory mandate and actual rollout.

iProfesional added that, despite the obligation to have CCT operational, only one bank reportedly showed concrete willingness to activate it on that date. That leaves open operational compliance risks and coordination issues with the BCRA under the set timetable.