Does Uruguay have an instant payment system like Pix?
Yes for transfers, not yet for merchant QR at scale. Interbank instant transfers reached 42 million in the first half of 2026, up 90%. The bank-owned QR scheme Toke launched in 2024 but is being repositioned around aliases and request to pay.
In detail
Yes for transfers, not yet for merchant QR at scale. Interbank instant transfers reached 42 million in the first half of 2026, up 90%. The bank-owned QR scheme Toke launched in 2024 but is being repositioned around aliases and request to pay.
Payment by bank transfer in Uruguay
Transfers carry most of the money in Uruguay: 86% of retail payment value in the first half of 2026, across 133 million operations. The instant transfer service of the Sistema de Pagos Interbancarios, available 24/7 with phone-number aliases, reached 42 million operations, up 90% in a year, with an average ticket of $3,616 and 32 participating institutions. Instant transfers are now 71% of interbank transfers, and 41% of them are at or below $1,000.
Toke and merchant QR
Turning this rail into a merchant instant payment method has been harder. Toke, launched in September 2024 by Urutec, the Bevsa-owned clearing house operator, lets a customer scan a merchant QR in a bank app and pay by instant debit, capped at $22,000 or US$500 per transaction. By mid-2026 it had not won shoppers from Mercado Pago QR and card wallets, and Urutec is repositioning it around aliases and a request-to-pay feature due in 2027, with 750,000 aliases registered.
The BCU's 2026-2030 roadmap keeps fast payments, interoperability and open finance as priorities. Pix itself is already present in another way: Brazilian tourists can now pay with Pix at Uruguayan terminals.
More detail in our #PayWorldTour guide Payment methods in Uruguay.