Latin America is a region with undoubtedly high user penetration across the internet and associated services, but obstacles to financial inclusion remain and prevent individuals from being banked or served by their financial services providers. What this means is that Latin America is ripe for fintech companies to leverage this opportunity and offer a solution to this substantial, yet online, population.
However, some progress has been made. Organisations in Brazil and Mexico saw a staggering $6 billion in investments into fintech companies in 2021. Further to this, in Brazil, the number of finance app downloads increased by 274% from 2019 – 2022 and in Mexico, the number of downloads more than tripled. Paraguay, however, is the country with the highest share of adult population using mobile money services.
Digital payments is the area of fintech that is most widely used, accounting for nearly eight in 10 users in 2022. Personal finance, neobanking, and alternative lending are also present within Latin America, with Nubank as a clear success as the largest digital bank in Latin America and one of the largest in the world with 1.34 million.
When Latin America leverages technologies such as AI, blockchain, cloud and data, the region will become one of the world’s leaders in fintech and grow across the digital banking, digital payments, personal finance, lending, and investment sectors. This report, in association with NovoPayment, compiles expert insights from a range of firms, including: BBVA, Kueski, PagBank PagSeguro, provides predictions for the future of fintech in Latin America.