Brazil's central bank to require client choice over targeted marketing, covering virtual-asset providers

What happened

The Collegiate Board of the Banco Central do Brasil (BCB) adopted Resolution BCB No. 602 at a session on 23 Oct 2026, and the BCB listed the final resolution online that day, the date in this story's source line. The resolution sets minimum requirements for a "selective authorisation" under which clients specify the products and services they agree to receive advertising and active individual offers for.

The preamble's legal bases include Articles 4 and 6 of Law No. 14,478 of 21 Dec 2022.

What changed

Resolution 602 applies to advertising and active individual offers of credit operations, virtual-asset services, foreign-exchange operations and payment services by financial institutions and other BCB-authorised institutions. It also applies to the products and services of payment institutions, foreign-exchange brokers, securities distributors and brokers, virtual-asset service providers and consortium administrators. It covers only products and services offered to individual clients, including individual entrepreneurs.

Under Article 4, these institutions must give each client the option to specify the products and services for which the client authorises such advertising and offers, offered prominently in each means used for them. The choice governs offers made through apps, email, SMS, push notifications and third parties acting for the institution. If a client makes no choice, the institution may make such offers of all its products and services, subject to Articles 5 and 8.

Article 5 sets separate rules for credit and post-paid payment instruments. For clients in circumstances that call for qualified attention, offers need the client's prior authorisation for each type of product, not in bundles, renewed at least annually, and are limited to renegotiation, portability or migration of existing balances on better terms, with no additional disbursements, subject to cases in current regulation. Under Article 8, all offers require a prior assessment of the credit's fit to the client's profile and of capacity to pay.

A client may revoke the authorisation at any time, with immediate effect, and institutions must send half-yearly alerts about that right. Institutions must keep the related records available to the BCB for at least five years and name a director responsible for compliance.

Who is affected

Virtual-asset service providers, payment institutions, foreign-exchange brokers, securities distributors and brokers, and consortium administrators, for all products and services they offer to individual clients. Other BCB-authorised institutions are covered when they market credit, virtual-asset services, foreign exchange or payment services to individuals.

What happens next

Articles 11, 12 and 13 enter into force on publication. The other provisions, including the client-choice, record-keeping and director duties, enter into force on 31 Mar 2027. Article 12 gives institutions one hundred and twenty days from publication to adapt their systems, policies, internal controls and channels; the text does not state its date of official publication. Article 13 revokes Article 6 of Resolution BCB No. 567 of 4 May 2026.