what will the fintech argentines do to beat the traditional banks?

The Argentine Chamber of Financial Technologies celebrated its first year of existence with a meeting attended by the main players in the sector, who gave their point of view on the various economic models that constitute this sector in constant growth.

The agenda of November 27 began at the first hour with the badysis of how the industry could become an essential ally for the creation of an ecosystem allowing the inclusion of A large part of the population currently excluded from the financial system.

In this regard, Juan Pablo Bruzzo, chairman of the board and general manager of Moni, said: "The idea of ​​inclusion is that people who do not have access to credit and online transactions can do so via their mobile phone and easily, without the need for a bank account. Everything is still very clear, but there is a common denominator, technology, that defines inclusive financial processes. "

Javier Buitrago, head of mobile finance management at Nación Servicios and Martín de los Santos, and senior vice president of Mercado Crédito, Mercado Libre, also explained that, according to the Central Bank, 80% of people have an account at the bank, "but only 50% know that they have one". In addition, he said that with regard to credits "less than 25% of people have access".

The situation is even more complicated for SMEs. "For a small business or for a contractor, a bank provides a loan, it's difficult and that's where fintech provides us with a much cheaper and more flexible structure that allows us to reach where traditional banks can not. We do not need branches, we do it via a digital platform and we have all the transactional information. If we add to this artificial intelligence, which allows us to perform an accurate badysis of credit risk, we know more about that person and we can measure risk in another way, by offering more credit and financing than 'a bank. It's the inclusion, "he concluded.

Then, a detailed study was carried out on the national ecosystem of fintech and the characteristics of the companies that compose it. The Multilateral Investment Fund of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and Afluenta have entrusted Accenture with the preparation of this first report, which was supported and collaborated by the Argentine Fintech Chamber.

The main conclusion of this study is that it is obvious that Beyond the recent evolution of fintech, they are still in a nascent state, with particular characteristics of the Argentine context. The companies in the sector offer a wide range of services and high billing indices in already consolidated companies, but with low availability of financing and investment capacity coinciding with their size and turnover.

With respect to the impact on relevant social issues, there are cases in which fintech has successfully delivered products and services to segments that do not have access to core funding plans and who have found innovative ways to provide financial education through their digital platforms.

With regard to the gender approach and the protection of the environment, Very few companies in this segment measure their impact on the environment or have a strategy to reduce the gap between men and women, even if they have the opportunity.

During the study, 133 fintechs operating within the Argentine ecosystem, both national – by their majority – as well as in Latin America and in other parts of the world.

Almost all can be clbadified as SMEs: 80% have less than 50 employees and their billing indexes coincide with those of this type of organization.. The ecosystem is growing, marked by the adoption of new technologies and digitization, which is gaining momentum in the country. He is nascent, but he is expanding. For the moment, Argentina ranks third in terms of the number of financial technology companies in Latin America.

During the investigation Five predominant revenue models have been identified: license fees and other digital services, interest on financing, fees and brokerage commissions, fees for solutions as a service and fees for the use of the e-commerce platform and / or the market.

According to the results of the survey conducted, almost all businesses are characterized by charging commissions and fees for the use of their digital platforms. This type of business model is relatively new and has been enhanced with scanning and solutions as a service, with many companies putting the emphasis on the offer.

Depending on the type of service offered, the new companies that make up the Argentinean ecosystem can be grouped into eight categories:

Payment and security

Coffe pierce, we talked about digital payments and trends in Argentina and the region. Santiago Bugallo, head of the Hispanic market, Mercado Pago and Germán Giménez, CEO of Olpays, commented how financial technologies are beginning to occupy an increasingly important place in the monetary movements of the international financial system.

"Banks + Fintech" was the most debated panel when badyzing the pros and cons of collaboration and competition between the digital world and the traditional world. Emiliano Porciano, Banco Galicia's Digital Manager, quickly responded to participants' questions, recognizing that the bank is working on digitization but still has a long way to go. He was accompanied by Alejandro Cosentino, from Afluenta.

José Vignolo, director of Invertironline.com, and Ignacio Plaza, co-founder and director of Primary, then discussed the relationship with the capital market. The moderator was Rocío Balestra, director of the CNV; Together, they examined the beginnings of the banking sector and agreed that the progress made in the regulatory framework had been very beneficial for the advancement of the sector.

After lunch, the Data and Computer Security working groups, representing the role of innovation regulators as an investor investing in Fintech, conducted a detailed review. The day has ended with a overview of the Insurtech panorama in the region which, despite being one of the smaller sectors due to its novelty, has grown exponentially.

Apparently, the digital wave leads us into uncertain but inevitable worlds. Thus, with crypto-currencies, with or without money, it is predicted with certainty that the finances will be online or will not be online.

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