Work

Fast payments and banking: Costa Rica’s SINPE Móvil

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: Launched in 2015, the Costa Rican retail fast payment system SINPE Móvil has seen rapid adoption since 2020. As of 2025, >80% of the Costa Rica´s population older than 15 are active users, accumulating >65 million transactions each month. Higher SINPE Móvil use has been related to lower cash withdrawals, a greater number of users and lower average transaction values, suggesting SINPE Móvil has carved a prominent place in retail payments. With a synthetic controls approach comparing Costa Rica to peer countries, we show that wide adoption of SINPE Móvil led to lower non-interest expenses by Costa Rican banks after the pandemic. This suggests that payments innovation can enhance bank efficiency.

Source: Latin American Journal of Central Banking

DOI: 10.1016/j.latcb.2026.100201

Authors: Douglas Araujo, Carlos Cantú, Allan Chinchilla, Cecilia Franco, Jon Frost, Andrea Oconitrillo

Institutions: Central Bank of Brazil, Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México, Bank for International Settlements

Language: English

Topic: Digital Transformation in Financial Services

Subfield: General Economics, Econometrics and Finance

Field: Economics, Econometrics and Finance

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Industry, innovation and infrastructure

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $1,700