To operate in the country and after the entry into force of the Fintech Law that was enacted in 2018, each of the companies sought a different route to operate.
Wildebeestof Brazilian origin, obtained a license as a Popular Financial Society (Sofipo) in December 2022, regulated by the National Banking and Securities Commission (CNBV) and which allows it to receive deposits, loans from banks, Afores and insurers, it can also give loans and distribute insurance.
Sofipo has a deposit insurance for 25,000 UDI’s, which is close to 194,000 pesos.
Now offers debit accounts with returns of 9% , rate that will be subject to the movements made by the Bank of Mexico (Banxico) to its interest rate. It also offers credit cards with small lines for its clients to generate a history and allows purchases to be made in months with and without interest.
In the case of fintech oulaof Argentine origin, initially focused on debit accounts and in 2021 became the second fintech to compare a bank in Mexico after announcing the ABC Capital acquisition .
The purchase took more than a year and a half to complete and, according to the founder, Pierpaolo Barbieri, this was the right path to develop all the products they are looking for and not acquire licenses like the Sofipos that are cheaper but do not allow them to have so many financial products.
Before Ualá bought ABC Capital, for an undisclosed amount, the bank had to dispose of its loan portfolio before officially completing the operation.
Now, with a banking license, which helps provide confidence to users due to the deposit insurance of 400,000 UDIs (almost 3.1 million pesos), it also allows them to carry out operations such as the purchase of Cetes without intermediaries. The firm will seek to expand its products, which already include credit and debit cards, loans, remittances, commission-free service payments, airtime recharges, and returns on the debit account.
The firm has also opted to compete with aggregators or point-of-sale terminals whose commission is 2.99% and allows months to be offered without interest.
“Accounts for minors are central to Ualá. In Argentina we have 700,000 minors with accounts but we have to comply with local regulations and now that we have bank approval we are going to expand products and services, it is a product that interests us,” Barbieri said in a recent visit to Mexico.
To expand this operation, Ualá will invest 150 million dollars for the next 12 months.
Market Payment For its part, it chose to have a Financial Technology Institution (ITF) license, under the regulation of the Fintech Law. With this rule there is no deposit insurance like in banks or Sofipos.
The firm has created an ecosystem in its application that includes, in addition to credit and debit cards, investments -in alliance with GBM-, remittances in association with Western Union, service payments (some with commissions), airtime recharges and the insurance contracting, also in the company of BNP Paribas, Prudential and Klimber.
The app recently implemented the purchase of cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin and ethereum, which allows managing resources in a single application.
Mercado Pago has opted to help small merchants reduce the use of cash with QR codes and terminals known as Point, a card reader that allows debit and credit cards to be accepted.
Not only foreign ones, there is a Mexican “unicorn” that also competes
But not only foreign fintechs compete in the financial sector. stories is another Mexican “unicorn” that has had a Sofom license since 2018.
Multiple Purpose Financial Companies (Sofomes) are regulated by the CNBV and Condusef, they do not have deposit insurance because these figures do not capture resources from clients, they are only dedicated to granting credit.
In this way, Stori gives credit cards to Mexicans who do not have a credit history, but Marlene Garayzar, co-founder and director of Regulation of the company, believes that in the future they should look for another figure that will allow them to grow.
“Today, with the license we have is enough; in the future I would like to explore other options or licenses to meet the objective of expanding the products,” he said in an interview in Garayzar.
The directive says that the credit card became relevant because they were born a couple of months before the start of the pandemic, which helped families make purchases online and approach electronic commerce.
Stori has more than 2 million customers with active cards, that is, they use it more than once. The approval fee for the cards ranges from 500 pesos to 10,000 pesos.
