Friday Briefing: Mastercard and Visa: Crypto is still a valid option

March 3, 2023

#TopStory 🔝

Santander, Banorte and Credicorp in the final stages of launching neobanks

Spain’s Santander, Mexico’s Banorte and Peru’s Credicorp will launch virtual spin offs in the coming months as part of their efforts to strengthen their digital offerings and compete with fast-growing regional fintechs such as Nubank and Ualá.

Competition is set to intensify in Peru, where Santander and Credicorp are putting the finishing touches to their digital banking projects.

The Spanish lender plans to debut its Superdigital
platform in Peru in April, a company source told iupana. The wallet already operates in Argentina, Chile, Brazil and Mexico, where it has focused on attracting unbanked users. Santander’s strategy also includes extending the use of PagoNxt, its digital arm, which includes the acquirer Getnet.

Likewise, Credicorp, Peru’s biggest financial services group, is expected to unveil its new digital bank during the first half of the
year. Credicorp owns the BCP bank and Yape wallet, both the largest in the country in their respective segments. Semana Económica reported this week that Patricia Conterno, a digital and data product specialist, is overseeing the project, which the company has dubbed Matrix.

Banorte, for its part, is also in the final stages of developing Bineo, its digital venture. “The new bank is in the process of authorization” by regulators, a bank spokesperson told iupana, adding: “We expect to launch in the second half of this year.”

It follows recent initiatives from other Mexican banks including Afirme and Invex with their platforms Billú and Now, respectively.

#Strategic Plays 📊

Visa and Mastercard maintain crypto push despite volatility

Visa and Mastercard said they are keeping their crypto roadmaps in place, despite the recent turbulence affecting the ecosystem. “We continue to work with our partners to bring relevant payment programs and solutions to market, guided by Mastercard’s core principles in the blockchain and digital asset space: stability, regulatory compliance and consumer protection,” a company spokesperson said in an emailed statement.

Along the same lines, Cuy Sheffield, head of crypto at Visa, said on
his Twitter account “we continue to partner with crypto companies to improve fiat on- and off-ramps, as well as progress on our product roadmap to build new products that can facilitate stablecoin payments in a secure, compliant and convenient way.”

Visa and Mastercard were responding to a Reuters article published this week that cited anonymous sources saying the firms had paused their projects and alliances with cryptocurrency companies due to market volatility. The companies both told iupana the article is inaccurate and doesn’t reflect their plans or activities.

The
card giants stepped up the creation of payment lines for virtual assets last year.

“Our efforts continue to be focused on the underlying blockchain technology and how that can be applied to help address current pain points,” Mastercard said.

Mercado Bitcoin says digital real test was positive

A consortium led by the Mercado Bitcoin exchange reported good results in a controlled test using the Brazilian digital real. The
group employed a prototype of the central bank digital currency (CBDC) to test its usability in token payments and the real-time settlement of assets. The companies, which include decentralized payment platform Stellar and anti-fraud solution ClearSale, said they were able to confirm its feasibility and security for these use cases.

The Central Bank of Brazil recently presented its CBDC roadmap, saying it will continue with pilot tests throughout this year and next. The digital currency is expected to be issued at the end of 2024.

The bank also said it will discuss “the guidelines of
the digital real pilot, as well as the general guidelines of the initiative” at a press conference on March 6.

Sí Vale, Edenred and Klar obtain fintech license in Mexico

Mexican regulators granted Sí Vale, Edenred and Klar operating licenses, bringing the number of authorized fintechs to 49. The three fintechs were recognized as electronic payment fund institutions (IFPE) following an accreditation process lasting more than three years.

Additionally…

• In Chile, Mercado Pago and supermarket chain SMU closed an agreement to enable the use of QR codes for payments in the group’s stores.

#Investments 📈

Mexico’s Konfío expands credit lines to US$225m 

Konfío, an SME lending fintech expanded two lines of credit from Goldman Sachs and Gramercy to MXN$4.1 billion (US$225 million). The financing will be in place for the next two years, and Konfío said it will help the firm place 10,000 new loans in Mexico.

Marco Financial receives US$200 million for export credit

US fintech Marco Financial, which provides finances to exporters in Latin America, obtained a credit line for US$200 million from MidCap Financial Investment and Castlelake. It also received a US$8 million capital injection led by Arcadia Funds.

#People🫂

Thunes names LatAm director

Global cross-border payments company Thunes has appointed Victor Lucena director for Latin America. The executive, who will oversee regional operations from Brazil, has experience in other tech and payment companies, including PayU, Binance and Worldpay.

#iupanaExclusive 🔥

A new trend is emerging in LatAm: ERP banking. Enterprise resource planning (or ERP) software is not new, but amalgamated with the financial ecosystem, it can generate new business models based on predictive finance. We spoke with leaders in the field, including TOTVS Techfin (which has an alliance with Banco Itaú), ClearSale and Senior Sistemas:

• Brazil leads the implementation of ERP banking in the region.
• Open finance should drive the synergy between banks, fintechs and ERP.
• Predictive finance uses
  technology and data to efficiently anticipate the needs of users.

Want to learn more? Read this week’s iupanaExlusive.