Brazil: PIX is non-negotiable
PIX is an instant bank transfer — free for consumers, settling in seconds — and it has become the dominant way Brazilians pay. A Brazil-facing checkout without PIX forfeits the majority of the market. Boleto Bancário, the traditional bank-slip voucher, still appears for unbanked buyers, though it has been declining steadily as PIX takes over.
Mexico: instant transfer plus cash
SPEI is Mexico's real-time bank-transfer rail — the default for buyers who'd rather not use a card. Alongside it, OXXO cash vouchers reach the large unbanked and card-averse segment: the customer gets a barcode and pays cash at any convenience store. Offering both covers banked and unbanked Mexico, where running cards alone would miss a wide slice of buyers.
Colombia and the rest of the region
In Colombia, PSE connects the buyer directly to their bank for an online transfer — the standard non-card method. Across Andean and smaller markets, local cash-collection networks play the role OXXO does in Mexico. And almost everywhere in LATAM, card installments — 'cuotas' or 'meses sin intereses' — are a cultural default: buyers expect to split a purchase, and a checkout that can't offer installments feels broken to them.
Deposits vs. withdrawals
Most of these rails are built to collect, not necessarily to pay out. PIX and SPEI support payouts cleanly; cash-voucher methods like OXXO and Boleto are deposit-only by nature — you can't refund cash to a barcode. If you run a business that pays customers back, such as trading or iGaming, plan the withdrawal path separately, because the method that converted the deposit may not be the one that returns the funds.
What drives conversion and approval here
Two things. First, showing the method the buyer recognizes — a Brazilian expects PIX, a Mexican expects SPEI or OXXO; an unfamiliar checkout loses them before they pay. Second, processing through local rails rather than forcing every transaction onto cross-border card networks, which is also what lifts approval rates — the mechanism covered in why local acquiring lifts approval rates.
The bottom line
LATAM rewards operators who localize the deposit page and punishes the ones who don't. PIX, SPEI, OXXO, PSE, and installments aren't nice-to-haves here — they're how most of the market pays. For the full regional picture, see local payment methods by region; on the vertical side, CFD brokers and iGaming operators both lean on LATAM local methods to acquire and retain players. Getting the right rails live per country is part of the payment stack we build.
Key Takeaways
- PIX is non-negotiable in Brazil — a card-only checkout forfeits most of the market.
- Mexico needs both SPEI bank transfer and OXXO cash vouchers to reach banked and unbanked buyers.
- Card installments ('cuotas') are a cultural default across LATAM, not an add-on.
- Cash-voucher methods are deposit-only — plan withdrawals on a separate rail.
- Showing the locally recognized method is what converts; local rails are what approve.