Gabriel Galipolo told the Senate Economic Affairs Committee on May 19 that Banco Central do Brasil staff maintain PIX around the clock driven by devotion to the financial system rather than adequate resourcing. The institution lost between 1,200 and 1,300 employees over the past decade while its supervisory mandate expanded to cover approximately 1,800 regulated entities including banks, fintechs, and cooperatives.
The staffing deficit compounds a reliability problem that has worsened through 2026. PIX recorded its eleventh major service disruption on May 27 when eight banks simultaneously reported failures, generating 1,766 Downdetector complaints. The system now averages more than two disruptions per month, up from roughly one per month in 2025. Each disruption affects a system processing 231 million transactions daily across 900 participating institutions. Galipolo told senators that approximately 100 supervisory staff will retire this year alone, reducing the Supervision division from 600 to 500 personnel.
BCB has responded with regulatory tightening rather than operational investment. Resolution 559, published April 23, grants the central bank power to mandate independent audits, exclude non-compliant participants, and formally summon institution representatives. The MED 2.0 enforcement grace period ended May 10, exposing institutions to penalty proceedings. Galipolo clarified that recent institutional attacks targeted participant infrastructure rather than BCB's own systems, but the distinction offers limited comfort when each disruption regardless of origin renders PIX unavailable to tens of millions of users. Brazilian supervisors manage 20 to 30 institutions per person compared to roughly one institution per supervisor in European central banks.