Forward
The goal of open banking is to widen access to financial services. This also enables a wide range of stakeholders to enter the market and generate value: banks reach new customers, fintech builds and offers commercially viable products and services, and consumers (from individuals to businesses to enterprises) access newer, more personalized digital services that help them build financial health.
To see this dynamic in action, look no further than Brazil, which is perhaps the most exciting open banking environment out there. Brazil straddles two worlds. On the one hand, they have a mature, developed economy and a tech-savvy population. But on the other, they have extreme poverty and exclusion. In many ways, open banking offers Brazil a chance to bridge this divide by bringing the great unbanked into the fold. And if they do so successfully, it will be an example for the rest of Latin America to follow: with many countries including Mexico and Colombia already embarking on a similar journey.
Open banking is not just about seeing all your accounts in one place or paying for things faster. It’s about opening up access to banking itself — access that millions of people in Latin America still lack. This is not just a moral matter but can create millions of new customers at the same time. All by offering them easy access to banking services, a chance at true financial security, and opportunities that they simply have never had before. Learning from Brazil, Latin America has the opportunity to become one of the fastest moving, most equitable open banking economies in the world.
I recommend this Snapshot Report to all stakeholders across Latin America. The early signs of this opportunity are already clearly visible in how open banking and open finance ecosystems are evolving across the region.
Eyal Sivan
Head of Open Banking Axway
