Friday Briefing: The World Bank bets on LatAm fintechs

January 20, 2023

#TopStory 🔝

How will Nubank triumph in Colombia?

Nubank is gearing up to further expand its market share and product offering in Colombia, at a time when local competitors are challenging the neobank to adopt new strategies.

To that end, the Brazilian digital bank’s local operation, Nu Colombia, obtained a loan of up to US$150 million from the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the World Bank’s private sector lending arm. The IFC’s
first fintech investment in LatAm is designed to accelerate Nubank’s strategy for an attractive growth market where there’s an incipient digital offering but where competition is also intensifying.

“The loan will deepen Colombians’ access to means of payment and credit cards, with a special focus on the unbanked population,” Alicia Ferrer, an IFC investment officer, told iupana. Its investment seeks to boost  financial inclusion, especially among women and minority groups, Ferrer said, pointing out that 30% of the neobank’s clients in Colombia have never had a bank account.

“Additionally, by supporting Nubank, a new entrant in the market, we’ll promote greater competition in the industry, which will benefit consumers,” she added.

The Sao Paulo-based fintech began operations in Colombia in August 2020, having previously established itself in Brazil and Mexico. But the firm has yet to differentiate its offering from the digital proposals of traditional banks, as it strives to attract more customers.

Nubank had about 440,000 users in Colombia as of 3Q 2022, compared to the 67 million it has in Brazil and another 3 million in Mexico. RappiPay, a joint venture between the superapp and Banco Davivienda, has almost twice the number of users in Colombia — around 800,000 — as well as 200,000 credit cards in circulation.

IFC says the loan to Nu Colombia marks the start of its support for fintech firms in the region. “Nubank is supposed to be the first in a series of investments in digital banks. Part of IFC’s strategy is to diversify its financial institutions portfolio in the region, not only with new clients but also through different types of financing products,” said Ferrer.

#Strategic Plays 📊

Bitso adds European stablecoin for LatAm

The cryptocurrency exchange Bitso added the Euro Coin (EUROC), a stablecoin backed in euros, to its platform. Bitso expects the move to promote euro-denominated transfers in the region.

Binance joins the Argentine Chamber of Fintech

Crypto giant Binance became a member of
the Argentine Chamber of Fintech with the aim of deepening local web3 and blockchain developments. Argentina is one of the countries most receptive to cryptocurrencies.

In addition…

• Mexican fintechs Mozper
  and Monific received fintech licenses to operate as electronic payment funds institutions and crowdfunding institutions, respectively.

#Investments 📈

Portão 3 drums up capital

The fintech Portão 3, which helps businesses manage payments and expenses, raised US$3.6 million (R$19 million) in a seed round led by Better Tomorrow Venture. The money will be used to expand its product offering, boost hiring, and enter new markets.

In addition…

• Colombia’s  embedded finance
  firm Milio was admitted to the Y-Combinator accelerator as part of its winter cohort and will receive US$500,000 in funding.
• Start-Up Chile launched the Growth & Scale program to channel investments to companies that want to enter the ScaleX Santiago Venture Exchange, the Santiago Stock Exchange’s alternative financing market for startups.

#iupanaExclusive 🔥

Processing giants EBANX and PayPal expect account-to-account (A2A) payment methods such as instant transfer systems and wallets to gain market share this year. And crypto payments? They are still a few years down the line.

• Account-to-account (A2A) payments streamline transactions and facilitate transfers between customer accounts by obviating the need for intermediaries or cards.
• Instant payment systems such as Pix (Brazil), PSE (Colombia), and SINPE (Costa Rica) are driving account-based payments.
• EBANX and PayPal say
  the main barriers to implementing cryptocurrency-based services are the lack of regulation and price volatility.

Find out what else EBANX and PayPal have to say about digital payments trends for 2023 in this week’s IupanaExclusive.