At a time when the financial sector is beginning to take off and falling interest rates are increasing the attractiveness of creditNequi is preparing to launch its market bets in 2025.
Andrés Vásquez, CEO of Nequi, spoke with Portafolio about the balance of 2024 and the challenges they bring for the current year and the pending points that the local market has on fronts such as open banking and open data and interoperability between the different sectors of the financial system.
How did they do in 2024?
We closed a very good year, with some important challenges, a year super focused on continuing to deepen the issue of credit, with very good results, with a few months of disbursements above what was expected, maturing our credit model a lot to include more people on the subject of credit, so I think it is a super positive balance.
Nequi’s activity closed the year with almost 22 million clients, which means continuing to grow the base of people who believe in our services and with super high activity, at least 73% of clients are active, that is, they carry out monetary transactions in the month. Basically we are talking about a super good year.
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And on the subject of credit?
With the credits, we continue to go deeper. Last December we disbursed nearly $85,000 million, the previous month we had disbursed $139,000 million, which for us is seen as a large impact, which has included many people.
We are talking about loan amounts that are on average $2.8 million and that, despite the economic challenges, have many people accessing credit and with very positive portfolio behavior, very good payment behavior, so we are very happy with that forehead.
Andrés Vásquez, CEO Nequi.
Courtesy – API
Is Nequi used more for savings or credit?
It is above all a solution that combines savings and payments; it is the payment platform for the majority of Colombians. For example, on Black Friday we made 50 million transactions on that day alone, so it is a super transactional platform that more and more people believe in.
What are you aiming for this year?
Here we can mention two super important topics. On the one hand, we are going to continue the topic of credit with an emphasis on small business credit, that is a segment that in Colombia has not been so well served and for that reason, people who have businesses on their own will be able to start have a deeper proposal on the subject of payments, through QR, interoperability to receive payments, to leverage the development of credit and give them tools to professionalize their business.
The second important issue is to continue on the topic of personal credits, but putting it closer to the moments of people’s lives, that is, integrating it more into the payment buttons, into the businesses, so that people find the credit in your daily life, not only within the application.
More information: Map of credit sources in the country: how do Colombians finance themselves?
How to be successful when asking for a loan?
First, it is not a difficult process and just to give an idea, we have at this moment, within the 22 million clients, an offer of almost $6 billion available for clients. We have analyzed the clients and we have pre-approved them for $6 billion, in more or less 1,700,000 clients.
We still need to cover the rest of the base, but there are already 1,700,000 people who have the possibility of having a loan with Nequi. We open the possibility of also requesting credit and we do an online study and we respond to people.
Andrés Vásquez, CEO Nequi.
Courtesy – API
So what’s wrong?
The most important thing is that people begin, from the part of organizing money, receiving payments, to take cash to digital, it is the entry point to the possibility of accessing credit, because it is the way banks We can begin to understand them. Let them move the money in Nequi.
There it is also important to talk about Open Banking and Open Data, so that we can begin to review people’s information and that information from other types of industries is shared in the market and this helps us to do credit analysis and amplify the offer.
How do you think open banking is going?
First, it has been a process that has collected the concerns and opinions of all the participants, which is quite positive. It is an exercise that Banco República is proposing to transform something that already existed in Colombia, interoperability already existed and what Bre-B provides is simpler interoperability.
The issue of keys, of identifying accounts with a unique code, without taking into account what type of account, entity and account number, but rather a name, which in the case of Nequi we are proposing to be the telephone number, for us is something very important.
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Why the telephone?
Nequi, since its inception, has positioned itself as the telephone account, entering the world of digital transactions early on. The introduction of tools like ours has simplified interbank operations and promoted greater use of money in digital format, reducing dependence on cash.
However, although these transactions already exist, their ease of use has not always been adequately disseminated. Bre-B has the potential to massify these operations, benefiting both the industry and people.
Credit cards.
iStock
Are we far from that goal?
There are several elements that will begin to contribute significantly. This year, it is expected that the initiation of payments will begin to operate, and it is now possible to work on the consultation of movements, which will facilitate the completion of credit studies.
Although Nequi already offers some alternatives to third parties, it is important to consolidate the regulation. For now, the main focus with Bre-B will be on payments, while next year there could be further development on data-related issues.
