BRUNO DINIZ: FINTECH ADVISOR, MANAGING PARTNER AT SPIRALEM AND BOOK AUTHOR: “THE FINTECH PHENOMENON”
The fintech phenomenon has advanced considerably in the last 5 years in Latin America, promising to reduce high costs in the local market, increase competitiveness in the sector and bring solutions to a greater portion of the population that is still excluded from the
financial system. Each country has advanced at its own pace and, in some cases, imported some models from more mature environments, such as the UK. Brazil and Mexico are standing out for having more ambitious agendas and for aligning with the British benchmark. In addition to these elements, we have seen how the adoption of digital financial solutions in the region increases year after year and, at the same time, there is a growing interest from foreign investment funds in fostering potential unicorns in LATAM. The year 2020 promised a different record and progress scenario for the fintech segment, however, many doubts arose as Covid-19 spread in the region. Contrary to the negative market sentiment, we are witnessing an interesting boost in the business of a good part of the players, especially from those who knew how to expand their customer base due to the rapid transition of behavior towards the adoption of digital solutions. One of the most surprising cases was that of the fintech Brasileira Picpay, which signed agreements with some state and municipal governments for the distribution of emergency aid and made its payment technology available via QR Code to enable donations to dozens of charities around the country. The digital portfolio had 12 million customers in December 2019, and that number increased to 20 million in May 2020 (in the first few months of isolation) and reached an impressive 30 million in August 2020. With this, the company started to develop a broader range of solutions,
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