Paving Way for FinTech Growth in Brazil, Colombia

The FinTech trade is flourishing in Colombia, with an expansion of 120 percent each year and investments of more than $1 billion in the past three years, according to a report from the FinTech Times. Brazil is the fifth-largest FinTech market worldwide, earning more than 70 percent more investment in 2020 than in 2019, according to the report. The countries’ success is helping to align Latin America’s FinTech advancements with Asia and the U.S., according to the article.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, online banking services and FinTechs have overwhelmingly set up shop in Colombia, making the country the third-largest FinTech epicenter in Latin America after Brazil and Mexico, according to PYMNTS.

In addition, a recent study found that 40 percent of Colombian consumers are purchasing products digitally, with eCommerce sales anticipated to reach $6 billion to $8 billion by the end of 2022, according to PYMNTS.

Read more: Deep Dive: How Colombia Can Provide a Blueprint for Latin American Digital Payments Growth

Underlining the FinTech growth in Latin America: in only two years, debit and credit card use rates in Latin America have switched their market share positions, according to a recent PYMNTS report. In 2019, about 60 percent of total purchases were made via credit, while today 65 percent of total transactions from physical and eCommerce sites were made with debit cards, Gabriel Mejia, general manager of EVO Payments, said in a recent conversation with PYMNTS.

Payment innovations and new purchasing platforms played a role in the region’s growth, Mejia told PYMNTS, adding that the transaction value of digital commerce is expected to surge by 73 percent in the region by 2025. Brazil is projected to have a 200 percent growth rate, while Colombia, Chile and Argentina are expected to at least be equal to those eCommerce volumes.

Related: Surging Debit Use Leads ‘Eighty-Fold’ Acceleration in LatAm Digital Payments