Colombia

Cash is still the leading in-store method: Worldpay estimates it made up 33% of point-of-sale value in 2024, down from 78% in 2019, and it remains the most used method by number of transactions. Credit cards took 26% of POS value, debit and prepaid cards 22% and digital wallets 18%; Nequi was used by 40% of in-store shoppers surveyed. Visa and Mastercard are the main card schemes. Merchant QR codes spread rapidly from 2019, and Bre-B now makes QR and key-based payments interoperable across banks and wallets: the Banco de la República counted 370.4 million Bre-B operations between 6 October 2025 and 31 January 2026.

Worldpay estimated Colombia’s e-commerce market at US$16 billion in 2024 and forecasts 13% annual growth to 2030, the fastest of the Latin American markets in its report. Regional marketplaces such as Mercado Libre and Falabella are important sales channels. Cash on delivery and pay-in-cash vouchers still account for a meaningful share of online value, so offering a cash route widens reach. PSE and many local methods ask for the payer’s identity document number (cédula), and card payments are commonly split into instalments (cuotas) chosen by the buyer, so checkouts should support both. Pricing and settlement in COP is expected.

The Banco de la República (BanRep) regulates payment systems and, under Article 104 of Law 2294 of 2023, requires low-value instant payment systems to interoperate; its External Resolution 6 of 2023 set the rules for what became Bre-B. BanRep operates Bre-B’s central key directory and real-time settlement, while the Superintendencia Financiera de Colombia (SFC) and the Superintendencia de la Economía Solidaria supervise compliance by banks, financing companies, specialised electronic deposit and payment companies (SEDPEs) and cooperatives. Non-bank actors enabled under Decree 1692 of 2020 can also take part in payment systems. Bre-B transfers must complete within 20 seconds and are capped at 1,000 UVB (a basic value unit), with lower limits allowed per institution.

The World Bank’s Global Findex 2025 found that 57% of Colombian adults had an account in 2024 (60% in 2021): traditional financial-institution accounts fell from 56% to 43%, while mobile money accounts rose from 22% to 39%. Only 26% owned a debit card and 9% a credit card, and 10% had paid digitally for an online purchase. On the national measure, which counts any financial product, 92.4% of adults had access in 2022 (Banca de las Oportunidades, cited by BanRep), helped by wallets such as Nequi and DaviPlata.