Argentina's BCRA tightens fraud controls on transfers

The Central Bank of the Argentine Republic published Communication A 8473, issued on Sept. 3, 2026 and released in the Official Gazette on Sept. 10, to impose new rules for managing fraud risk in electronic transfers. The regulation creates a mandatory score-based assessment for each user and applies to financial institutions, payment service providers and administrators of instant transfer schemes.

What does Communication A 8473 require?

Communication A 8473 requires a fraud risk score at customer onboarding, during periodic review of customer rosters and in transaction monitoring, according to Urgente24's coverage of the measure. The score must be used on a mandatory basis in the electronic transfer system, with specific antifraud controls for retail payments and transfer operations.

According to Escencial Consultora, the score is built from three inputs, information provided by the BCRA, data from the Fraud Prevention Central and transactional information that participants agree to share. The same source says the indicator must be integrated into internal risk management models, and that banks and PSPs must keep their own due diligence, monitoring and mitigation procedures so the score does not become the only decision criterion.

Who does it apply to, and on what timeline?

The rule applies to financial institutions, payment service providers and administrators of instant transfer schemes, with different deadlines for each group, according to specialized outlets and KPMG Argentina. Administrators have 120 calendar days from publication to develop and deploy the scoring infrastructure, while financial institutions have 60 days and PSPs have 90 days to incorporate it into customer onboarding, roster review and monitoring.

Abogados.com.ar said Communication A 8473 complements an earlier regime started with Communication A 8471, and that the score becomes a mandatory mechanism provided by the BCRA for scheme administrators. KPMG Argentina said the framework applies at the same time to financial institutions, administrators of electronic transfer payment schemes and payment service providers that offer payment accounts.

What other regulatory signals accompanied this move?

The tighter regulatory stance was accompanied by other BCRA communications and official decisions published in September. The Official Gazette reported on Sept. 15 on Communication A 8479/2026, with updates and clarifications on Communications A 8460 and A 8467, and Argentina.gob.ar described it as a rule of updates and clarifications to that prior framework.

In addition, Communication A 8477/2026 was published on Sept. 18, dated Sept. 8, and linked to Circular SINAP 1-255 on National Payments System rules, transfers and complementary standards. At the same time, the Official Gazette recorded on Sept. 16 a reprimand against Neocam SAS, a former exchange agency, issued by the Superintendency of Financial and Exchange Institutions in case EX-2025-00021988-GDEBCRA-GSENF#BCRA.