What is Bre-B: the complete guide.
Bre-B is the Banco de la República's instant payment system, which connects every bank and wallet in the country to each other: with a key or a QR code, anyone can pay anyone else instantly, no matter which institution holds their account.
What Bre-B is and how it works
Bre-B is the Banco de la República's instant payment infrastructure for Colombia, active since October 2025. Its job is simple: make transferring money between different banks and wallets as direct as sending a message, no matter whether the payer and the payee bank at the same institution.
Before Bre-B, paying someone at another bank almost always meant an interbank transfer with full account details, or PSE if it was to a business. Bre-B replaces those details with two simpler things: a key or a QR code. The payment clears in seconds, and both traditional banks and digital wallets in the country take part, with Bancolombia among those that have pushed adoption hardest with businesses.
The name comes from "immediate transfer" (Bre-B), and that's its core promise: money reaches its destination instantly no matter how many different institutions sit between the payer and the payee.
In practice, this has led businesses that used to accept only cash or a transfer to a single account to start receiving payments from customers banked at any institution, without opening a new account for every bank.
How Bre-B keys work
What a key is
An identifier you register once that replaces an account number: your phone, your email or your ID number. You can register more than one, for example your phone for personal use and your ID for the business.
How you use it to get paid
You share your key with whoever is paying you, or put it in a QR; they type it or scan it and the money reaches your account.
One step further: recurring payments
Since May 2026 the same key also works for charges that repeat, not just a single, one-off transfer.
How big Bre-B is today
Bre-B went from 1.5 to 5 million daily operations in its first seven months, according to figures from the Banco de la República. By May 2026 the system already counted more than 105 million registered keys and 34.9 million linked users, with more than 1.07 billion accumulated transactions since launch. That means Bre-B went from a niche feature to a payment rail businesses can rely on in well under a year.
That growth rate explains why more and more businesses in Colombia are starting to offer Bre-B as one more way to get paid, alongside the payment link, Nequi and the traditional QR.
That pace is also a habit shift: transferring money without typing an account number used to be something only digital wallets offered, and only between their own users. Bre-B brought that to every bank in the country.
How a business gets paid with Bre-B, including on WhatsApp
Getting paid with Bre-B follows the same pattern no matter the business: register the key, share it with the customer and wait for the payment confirmation.
With Elocuenti, the AI agent or your rep send the Bre-B key or QR inside the same WhatsApp conversation where the customer is already buying, without switching them to another channel. The customer pays from their bank or wallet, and the confirmation lands back in the chat within seconds.
That charge gets reconciled on its own, matched against the order from the conversation, and shows up alongside every payment link, Nequi or QR charge you collected that day on the same collections dashboard.
- It registers its key once, at the bank or wallet it already uses for the business.
- It shares it with the customer as text, in a QR or inside the WhatsApp conversation, next to the amount owed.
- The customer pays from their bank or wallet, without opening a new app or switching institutions.
- The business sees the payment confirmed within seconds and matches it to the right order.
Bre-B versus PSE, transfers and a traditional QR
Bre-B doesn't fully replace the other methods: it simplifies them.
| Aspect | Bre-B | PSE, a transfer or a traditional QR |
|---|---|---|
| What you need to get paid | A key (phone, email or ID) or a QR | The full account number, or a PSE checkout link |
| Which banks can pay you | Any of them, all connected to each other | Depends: PSE covers almost all of them, a direct transfer only between accounts on the same network |
| Speed | Instant, within seconds | Instant via PSE or QR; a transfer between different banks can take longer |
| Recurring payments | The same key works for charging more than once | Each charge usually gets set up again from scratch |
| What you share | A simple identifier, without exposing your account | The full account number, on a direct transfer |
Common mistakes with Bre-B
Mixing up the key with the account number
The key replaces the account number; sharing both isn't needed and can confuse the customer.
Assuming it only works with one bank
Bre-B connects every institution to every other one: the customer pays from whatever bank or wallet they already have, not from one in particular.
Not checking the confirmation before shipping
As with any payment method, wait for the real payment confirmation before handing over the product or service. A pending notification is not the same as a cleared payment.
Sources
- In seven months, Bre-B tripled its daily transactions from 1.5 to 5 million; there are already 105 million registered keys Banco de la República
- Bre-B indicators Banco de la República
- Bre-B keys will now work for recurring payments El Heraldo
- Bre-B for businesses: frequently asked questions Bancolombia
- Bre-B: what it is and how to get paid with this method Bold
Frequently asked questions about Bre-B
What is Bre-B in plain terms?
A Banco de la República system that connects every bank and wallet in the country, so paying between accounts at different institutions is instant, with just a key or a QR.
What are Bre-B keys?
Identifiers that replace an account number: your phone, your email or your ID, registered once at your bank or wallet.
How does Bre-B work for a business to get paid?
The business registers its key, shares it with the customer as text or as a QR, and the customer pays from their own bank; the confirmation lands within seconds.
Is Bre-B the same as PSE?
No. PSE is a checkout button that redirects to a bank's page; Bre-B is an instant transfer between accounts, identified by nothing more than a key.
Does Bre-B cost the business getting paid anything?
It depends on the bank or wallet where you register your key; some already include it at no extra cost within their business plans.
Does Bre-B cost the paying customer anything?
Terms depend on each bank or wallet; for the business getting paid, Elocuenti integrates it alongside its other payment methods at no extra cost to use.
Get paid with Bre-B without leaving WhatsApp.
Book a call: we review how you collect payments today, show you Bre-B inside the conversation and pick the plan together.