The market has witnessed how technology and financial companies They have been crossing ties in recent times. Uruguay is not at all alien to this reality. Furthermore, the local market has become one of the most promising for fintechthat is, financial companies that apply technology in business models or to generate different solutions for the market.
In this context, the Uruguayan Chamber of Fintech (CUF) and Fundación da Vinci, a civil society whose mission is to promote entrepreneurial culture, are concentrating efforts to make visible and develop the fintech industry in the country. These organizations will carry out the Fintech South Hub on September 14, an instance that aims to bring together in Montevideo the main companies, entrepreneurs, professionals and enthusiasts of the fintech ecosystem in the region.
“Our objective is to present Uruguay as a regional hub for the fintech industry,” said the vice president of the CUF, Martín Benítez, in dialogue with Coffee & Business.
“Uruguay has been positioning itself as a technology and entrepreneurship hub and it is time to position it now, too, as a fintech technology hub,” developed Benítez, who also expressed that the local market has attracted and produced companies of global reach, which have generated solutions Innovative finance for the market.
Examples like dLocal —fintech and the first Uruguayan unicorn—, Prometeo and Astropay are important examples in the national market of the momentum that fintechs have in Uruguay.
According to the Global Fintech Index, in 2021 Uruguay had the presence of 63 fintechs, a promising number for the size of the Uruguayan market. This market is “very broad”, since there are companies dedicated from the open banking until the trading and cryptocurrencies, Benítez explained.
The purpose of Fintech South Hub is to promote the local fintech ecosystem, so they hope, in this instance, to “make visible, support, empower” the companies that already operate in the country and, in addition, “attract global companies” to the local market, pointed out the vice president of the CUF. “We want to attract big players to Uruguay” from the fintech industry, concluded Benítez, who expressed that the country already has the potential to generate this ecosystem.
Technology and finance: a couple with potential in Uruguay.
According to the latest survey of the Mastercard New Payments Index, in 2022 alternative payment methods, such as the use of QR codes, virtual wallets, biometric technology and cryptocurrencies, are “increasingly prevalent in people’s daily lives and they are gaining ground on traditional payments,” the report said. According to the survey, in addition, 35% of the Uruguayans consulted affirm that the use of cash has decreased in recent times.
Uruguay has a “great opportunity ahead” in the incorporation of technology in finance, specifically in means of payment such as biometrics -use of facial recognition- and cryptocurrencies, added the study. In this sense, “in Latin America, and particularly in Uruguay and Argentina, the interest in cryptocurrencies and the demand for solutions that facilitate their access is growing,” said Mastercard’s country manager for Argentina and Uruguay, Federico Cofman.
The survey also concluded that fintechs and banks are the “most reliable entities to deal with education” of alternative payment methods and new financial businesses.
For its part, according to the latest Global Fintech Index —published in 2021—, Uruguay is one of the region’s promises in terms of fintech development. This index placed Uruguay in the 46th position globally with the highest development of fintech companies.
In addition, the country is among the top 20 countries in the world —precisely in position 17— among those that most promote the evolution of financial technologies.
