Launching payments in Colombia: the stack

By Polynopsis team · Last updated 28 October 2026

Paying out in Colombia means routing the transfer through a foreign exchange market intermediary (IMC), such as a bank, financing company, cooperative or SEDPE, which credits pesos to accounts and wallets over Bre-B, Banco de la Republica's instant system that has run 24/7 since 6 October 2025, or over the ACH Colombia network. Cross-border payment companies connect through payout networks such as Thunes, Nium, dLocal, EBANX and TerraPay's bank partners, convert at rates referenced to the TRM certified by the Superintendencia Financiera, and use Bancolombia or Cobre for local accounts and Truora or Verifik for identity and company checks.

Currency	COP
Local payout rails	Bre-B (instant payments), ACH Colombia, CUD (Sistema de Cuentas de Deposito)
Holiday calendar	Colombia bank holidays 2026 and 2027
Corridor playbooks	USD to COP

The Colombia market

Colombia received US$13,098 million in workers' remittances in 2025, up 10.6% (US$1,250 million) on 2024, equal to 2.9% of GDP and 13.2% of balance of payments current receipts. source
The United States and Spain provide about two thirds of Colombia's remittance inflows; in 2025 remittances from Spain grew by US$362 million and from the United States by US$157 million. source
The World Bank puts Colombia's personal remittances received at US$13,129 million in 2025 (World Development Indicators, updated 8 October 2026). source
In its first year Bre-B processed more than 1,700 million transactions worth more than COP 262 trillion; more than 116 million keys are registered, more than 36 million users have at least one key, and 245 entities are connected, against about 25 in instant payment schemes before Bre-B (Banco de la Republica, 6 October 2026). source
62% of Bre-B operations are below COP 50,000, and 45 million of the registered keys have received at least one payment. source
Decree 0368 of 7 April 2026 makes open finance data sharing mandatory for credit establishments, SEDPEs and other listed entities supervised by the Superintendencia Financiera, which must enable access within 12 months of the SFC issuing each technical standard. source

Licensing: who can pay out in Colombia

The Superintendencia Financiera de Colombia (SFC) states that international transfers to or from Colombia can only be made through foreign exchange market intermediaries (IMC): commercial and mortgage banks, financial corporations, financing companies, the Financiera de Desarrollo Nacional, Bancoldex, financial cooperatives, stockbrokers, SICSFE and SEDPE. source
Banco de la Republica's Resolucion Externa 1 de 2018 sets the exchange regime; its article 7 lists the IMCs, including Sociedades Especializadas en Depositos y Pagos Electronicos (SEDPE), and the current list is published in the Sistema de Informacion Cambiaria. source
Operations of obligatory channelling (imports and exports of goods, external debt, foreign investment, foreign-currency guarantees and derivatives) must go through IMCs or compensation accounts and be settled one by one without netting; free-market operations such as service payments can be channelled through an IMC voluntarily with an exchange declaration. source
Non-residents can open peso or foreign currency accounts at IMCs without registering with Banco de la Republica. source
The SFC calculates and certifies the TRM under article 40 of Resolucion Externa 1 de 2018, as the amount-weighted average of USD/COP spot trades for same-day settlement made by IMCs between 7:30 a.m. and 1:00 p.m.; the rate applies the following day. source

This page explains the rules in general terms and is not legal or regulatory advice. Check the primary source and take advice on how the rules apply to your firm.

Payout rails in Colombia

Rail	Operator	What matters for payouts	Source
Bre-B (instant payments)	Banco de la Republica	Settlement mechanism launched on 23 September 2025 and running 24/7; controlled operation from 23 September to 5 October 2025 and full operation from 6 October 2025, interoperating five instant payment systems and 227 financial institutions at launch. Payments are capped at 1,000 UVB per transaction.	source
ACH Colombia	ACH Colombia S.A.	Interbank transfer network launched in 1997 with Colombian financial institutions; ACH Colombia also runs PSE, which debits savings, current or electronic deposit accounts for online purchases and payments.	source
CUD (Sistema de Cuentas de Deposito)	Banco de la Republica	High-value system of accounts at the central bank; funds transfers can be made between 7:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m. Bogota time.	source

The Colombia payments stack, layer by layer

The providers below are a starting shortlist for each layer, described from their own documentation. Confirm terms, coverage and licences with each provider.

Payout and collection partners

Provider	What it does in Colombia	Source
Thunes · our guide	Launched real-time cross-border payments to and from Colombia through Bre-B in October 2025, as part of its Direct Global Network.	source
Nium · our guide	Pays COP to bank accounts at all banks in Colombia over ACH, with same-day credit subject to an 18:00 UTC cut-off, and instantly to Bre-B proxies.	source
dLocal · our guide	Supports payouts in Colombia in COP via bank transfers.	source
EBANX	Pays out in Colombia to Nequi and by Bre-B (published SLA under 2 minutes each) and by bank transfer (up to 3 days), as cross-border operations.	source
TerraPay with Bancolombia	Signed a contract with Bancolombia (announced in 2023) for cross-border transfers into Colombia; the announcement describes Bancolombia as the largest payer of remittances in Colombia, paying US$5,692 million of the US$9,429 million that arrived in 2022.	source
Cobre	Colombian business payments platform that sends dispersals to any bank account or digital wallet in Colombia through Fast Pay (credit in 6 minutes or less in business hours) and Bre-B (24/7, 365 days a year).	source

Local banking and settlement accounts

Provider	What it does in Colombia	Source
Bancolombia	Bancolombia S.A. Establecimiento Bancario receives international transfers into company accounts (SWIFT COLOCOBM) and lets companies negotiate the dollar rate in its Sucursal Virtual Empresas for USD 1 to USD 249,999 per transaction.	source
Cobre	Offers unlimited collection accounts per payer with instant reconciliation and virtual accounts with direct connection to Bre-B, Fast Pay and ACH, so companies can operate without opening a local entity.	source

Stablecoin ramps and exchanges

Provider	What it does in Colombia	Source
Cobre	Offers stablecoin on-ramp, off-ramp and B2B payments on its own infrastructure and liquidity, with local delivery over Bre-B and ACH in Colombia.	source

FX and liquidity

Provider	What it does in Colombia	Source
TRM (Superintendencia Financiera de Colombia)	The SFC certifies the TRM daily from same-day-settling USD/COP spot trades between IMCs from 7:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.; FX deals themselves are struck through IMCs.	source
Bancolombia (Sucursal Virtual Empresas and Mesas de Dinero)	Negotiates USD rates for company international transfers online Monday to Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., except Colombian or US holidays, with trading desks for other currencies; smaller amounts go at Bancolombia's policy rate, which differs from the TRM.	source
Cobre	Cross-border product for COP, MXN, USD, EUR, CNY/CNH and HKD with same-day settlement and a Rate Lock tool; states that it operates 24/7, including outside market hours, weekends and holidays.	source

KYC and KYB providers

Provider	What it does in Colombia	Source
Truora	Background check API whose person checks and company checks both cover Colombia (country code CO).	source
Verifik	Business validation API that retrieves Colombian company data from the RUES registry by NIT, including commercial registry data, economic activities and legal representatives.	source

Bank data and open banking

Provider	What it does in Colombia	Source
Cobre	Connects a company's accounts at the main banks in Colombia and Mexico in one portal, with real-time balances and movements in COP, MXN and USD and automated reconciliation.	source

Funding and prefunding COP payouts

On Saturdays, Sundays, holidays and days when Banco de la Republica does not provide CUD services, the TRM in force is the one for the next business day, and the TRM is not calculated from trades made on US Federal Reserve bank holidays. source
Bancolombia negotiates USD rates for company international transfers Monday to Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., not on Colombian or US holidays, and same-day settlement needs the request and supporting documents before 4:00 p.m. source
Under Ley 51 de 1983 (Ley Emiliani) many Colombian holidays that do not fall on a Monday move to the following Monday, creating frequent three-day weekends. source
Nium's ACH payouts to Colombian bank accounts get same-day credit only for instructions before 18:00 UTC (13:00 Bogota), while its Bre-B proxy payouts are instant. source

Size the prefund to your runway target with the corridor runway calculator and the Colombia holiday calendar.

Launch checklist

Plan: launch volume, the prefund sized to your runway target including weekends and holidays, the contracting entity and the funding route.
Open accounts: shortlist payout partners and a local banking route from the layers above, and prepare the onboarding pack.
Set up: read access to every new balance, a runway target with alerts, and the corridor in your daily reports.
Go live: the first prefund and a test payout, then daily monitoring.

Polynopsis turns this into one plan with named approvals, then shows every Colombia partner, bank and wallet in one live position. See how a corridor launch works.

Frequently asked questions

Who can pay out an international transfer in Colombia?

Only foreign exchange market intermediaries (IMC), such as banks, financing companies, financial cooperatives, stockbrokers, SICSFE and SEDPE, as the Superintendencia Financiera states. A foreign sender works through one of them, directly or through a payout network such as Thunes, Nium, dLocal, EBANX or TerraPay's bank partners.

Can COP payouts run on weekends and holidays?

Yes, through Bre-B, whose settlement mechanism has run 24/7 since its launch in September 2025, with full operation from 6 October 2025, up to Bre-B's per-transaction maximum of 1,000 UVB. Bancolombia negotiates USD rates online for companies only Monday to Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., outside Colombian and US holidays.

Which rate applies on weekends?

The TRM certified for the next business day. The SFC calculates it from same-day-settling spot trades between 7:30 a.m. and 1:00 p.m., and does not calculate it from trades on US Federal Reserve holidays.

How big is Bre-B?

In its first year Bre-B processed more than 1,700 million transactions worth more than COP 262 trillion, with more than 116 million keys registered and 245 connected entities, according to Banco de la Republica.

How large are remittance inflows to Colombia?

Banco de la Republica recorded US$13,098 million of workers' remittances in 2025, up 10.6%, equal to 2.9% of GDP. The United States and Spain provide about two thirds of inflows.

Other markets

Sources

Know where all your money is.

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