61% of the Argentine population over 15 years of age has at least one account opened in virtual wallets, based on data released by the Argentine Chamber of Fintech.

“We are very happy to see the growth of the sector in these years and we believe that we still have enormous potential to continue providing value and innovative solutions to the financial ecosystem of our country,” announced this week the head of the chamber, Ignacio Plaza, at the opening of the sixth edition of Argentina Fintech Forum 2023, held at the Convention Center of the City of Buenos Aires.

The executive specified that 61% of the population over 15 years of age in Argentina has at least one account opened in a virtual wallet, which represents more than 40 million total accounts in the sector.

In that context, Money transfers made to or from a CVU - the uniform virtual code particular to each entity and each account or savings bank - grew by 33% during the last twelve months.

Plaza also highlighted that in recent times more than 5 million people have accessed credit through a fintech and that of that total, more than half had never had access to a bank loan nor did they have a salary account at the time of taking it.

The director of Visa Business Development, Guillermo Mansilla, participated in the forum; the product director of Naranja X, Juan Ignacio Talento; and the representative of Mastercard's Global Channels and Digital Products, Gregorio Trimarco, among other references.

In the case of Visa, Mansilla referred to the impact of the use of digital payments and highlighted the importance of offering a range of payment options through interoperable QRs.

“The use of digital payments accelerated and in 14 regional countries it reaches 50% of accounting transactions on average, while in Argentina, that number is 54%,” according to Visa data.

In addition, he maintained that their next challenge is to execute 'tap to phone' payments - technology that is used to pay by bringing the cell phone closer - for both users and businesses.

For his part, Talento pointed out that among the purposes of Fintech, the possibility that businesses can capture a payment without having POS terminals stands out.

"Today the cell phone allows that to happen, so we avoid the use of cash and we can digitize many more payments. We are also working for full interoperability of the QR," he highlighted.

In this context he described “fundamental” to the role of the regulator to generate a framework that promotes charging from cell phones, with NFC technology, to physical cards.

In turn, GetNet's product and marketing manager, Guillermo Bergesio, said that interoperable QR is a widely adopted solution in the country that demonstrates “the maturity of the industry.”

“We now have to go towards the QR with cards as well, to have all the means of payment,” he stated in reference to each “plastic” having a QR code.

At the regional level, Mastercard detailed that smartphone penetration is above 80% in Latin America and that at least 50% of users “have used their cell phone at least once to make payments.”

Finally, Lyra's Business Development Director, Gabriel Sousa, reviewed the experience of digital payments adopted in Brazil by the Central Bank.

"We must find functionalities that allow us to serve all customers. With PIX - an instant payment method based on QR code - we have the best payment experience in Brazil," Sousa remarked.

Source/Photo: Télam