The Central Bank of Brazil published Resolution BCB No. 554 on March 24, 2026. The regulation establishes new operational controls for Conta PI settlement accounts maintained by direct participants in the Sistema de Pagamentos Instantâneos. Signed by Director of Monetary Policy Nilton David, the resolution took effect on March 30. It introduces Article 26-A to the existing SPI framework codified in BCB Resolution 195/2022.
Under the new provision, the central bank may temporarily interrupt a direct participant's access to SPI settlement when two conditions occur simultaneously. A payment order must be rejected because processing it would reduce the Conta PI balance below a configured minimum operational limit. The participant must also have previously activated the automatic blocking option through SPB-Web. Unblocking requires manual intervention through the same platform. This design demands round-the-clock treasury monitoring from participating institutions.
All direct SPI participants must now configure four parameters in SPB-Web: a minimum balance threshold for alerts, the intensity level of atypical movement notifications, a minimum operational balance limit for availability checks and blocking triggers, and whether to activate automatic blocking. Institutions must designate a responsible person for manual unblocking. They must also establish internal processes for handling BCB communications.
Resolution 554 arrived two days after a cyberattack on BTG Pactual diverted approximately R$100 million from the bank's Conta PI account on March 22. The central bank's automated monitoring detected atypical movements at approximately 6 AM. This triggered preventive suspension of BTG's PIX operations. BTG recovered R$73 million within 24 hours. An estimated R$20 million to R$40 million remains unrecovered. Federal Police are investigating fund dispersal across seven banks and cryptocurrency exchanges. The BCB stated the resolution represents a new phase of improvements under Agenda BC rather than a reactive measure.