In response to Statista, fintech in Latin America (LatAm) suffered in 2023, with lower than $2billion invested in fintech ventures – a drastic drop from 2021’s worth of $6billion. Nonetheless, within the face of this hardship, fintechs have nonetheless continued to emerge and discover success within the area, and throughout 2024, funding ranges surged again up over $2billion once more. With the way forward for fintech wanting optimistic in 2025, Em Conversa appears to discover how the LatAm area can prosper as soon as extra.
In March, fintech FitBank launched a brand new platform to permit firms of all sizes to manage their funds immediately from their administration methods. The launch aligned with FitBank’s intention of redefining the mixing of monetary providers in ERP methods, and provided that the Brazilian ERP market is the fifth largest globally, there may be big potential for the brand new providing.
To get a greater understanding of the service, we spoke to Alex Vollbrechthausen, investor and chairman of the board at FitBank. He spent 18 years at Goldman Sachs, the place he was one of many companions main the agency’s enterprise improvement efforts throughout Latin America and rising markets. From 2011 to 2016, he additionally served as CEO of Goldman Sachs Brazil.
Are you able to inform me extra in regards to the firm and your function inside it?
FitBank, a conglomerate with expertise and controlled entities in Brazil, Mexico and Central America, was based in 2015 with a imaginative and prescient to rework the digital funds area, recognising the rising demand for effectivity by means of cutting-edge expertise.
As we speak, FitBank stands as one of many main cost establishments in Brazil, working underneath a B2B2x mannequin. We offer monetary infrastructure providers (infratech) and presently course of over R$20billion (approx. $4billion) monthly. Our providers assist greater than 200 enterprise teams and influence almost 100 million people throughout 22 sectors of the financial system. We’re additionally working in earlier phases into different Latin American nations akin to Mexico, Guatemala and others.
In my function, I lead enterprise improvement efforts throughout Latin America and rising markets. With a powerful background in monetary providers, I’ve all the time had a deep understanding of the business. As I started to ascertain its future, it turned more and more clear that expertise could be the driving pressure behind main transformations. I noticed FitBank as the perfect platform — combining cutting-edge monetary expertise with the flexibleness to serve the wants of any nation.
What are some embedded finance tendencies we’re seeing in Brazil, and the way do they differ from Mexico and Guatemala?
Embedded finance is quickly increasing in Brazil. The nation’s monetary expertise ecosystem is extremely superior and fiercely aggressive, which presents a definite benefit for firms working right here. As we speak, lots of of companies throughout industries like retail, logistics, agribusiness, development, healthcare, transportation, and schooling supply monetary providers — akin to digital accounts, credit score, insurance coverage, and invoice funds — immediately inside their very own platforms and apps.
Mexico and Guatemala are additionally embracing this world pattern of integrating monetary providers into non-financial platforms. Nevertheless, every nation presents distinctive traits, particularly in terms of regulatory maturity, technological infrastructure, and monetary inclusion.
In Brazil, regulatory our bodies such because the Central Financial institution and the Securities and Change Fee (CVM) have been actively monitoring and inspiring regulatory compliance, which supplies a aggressive edge for firms like FitBank which can be constructed on strong foundations.
After Brazil, Mexico is probably the most mature market in Latin America. FitBank is making ready to launch operations within the nation, which has a proactive central financial institution, a rising BaaS ecosystem, an open banking framework underneath implementation, and a powerful demand for providers like purchase now, pay later (BNPL) and worldwide cash transfers—hundreds of thousands of Mexicans obtain remittances from the US.
Guatemala, then again, is an rising market with monumental potential. About 50 per cent of the inhabitants stays unbanked. Whereas some embedded finance options exist already — largely in funds — there’s a notable lack of regulatory depth. Nevertheless, this additionally presents a chance to introduce revolutionary monetary providers rapidly, unhindered by legacy methods or outdated expertise.
What’s FitBank doing to enhance the embedded finance sector in Brazil and Latin America?
In Brazil, we’ve constructed a strong basis and are experiencing constant progress. Considered one of our key methods has been to supply white-label monetary infrastructure and BaaS options to ERP suppliers, permitting them to concentrate on their core enterprise whereas leveraging our platform.
We presently present monetary expertise infrastructure to over 160 monetary teams, not directly serving greater than 100 million customers yearly. In 2025, we additionally started working as a direct credit score firm (sociedade de crédito direto), permitting us to concern and handle financial institution credit score notes (CCBs) and faucet into the large market of credit score transactions.
In Mexico, we’ve been working since 2023 by means of a partnership with Actinver, a neighborhood financial institution, providing a complete suite of monetary providers. We’re additionally within the strategy of increasing additional, with plans to amass a brand new operations within the nation.
In Guatemala, we’re finalising a partnership with a serious retail chain to facilitate digital funds for each prospects and workers.
How does embedded finance in Latin America examine to the remainder of the world?
The important thing distinction is its real-world influence. In Latin America, embedded finance performs a crucial function in monetary inclusion and social mobility. For instance, Brazil’s PIX system turned probably the most extensively used cost technique within the nation inside a brief interval, revolutionising how individuals deal with transactions.
In lots of Latin American nations the place a big portion of the inhabitants is unbanked or underbanked, embedded finance solves a urgent concern: entry to monetary providers. In distinction, in additional developed markets akin to Europe, the US, or Asia, embedded finance is commonly targeted on comfort, improved person expertise, and new income streams.
These markets additionally face distinctive challenges — as an illustration, within the US, regulatory fragmentation throughout states can considerably complicate the rollout of nationwide embedded finance options.
What are some distinctive embedded finance challenges related to Brazil, Guatemala, and Mexico?
All three markets are wealthy in alternative however differ by way of complexity and maturity. Many firms in these areas both lack legacy methods or have minimal technological debt, which permits for fast implementation of recent options.
In Brazil, the problem lies in sustaining progress and our aggressive edge inside a extremely regulated and developed market. In Mexico, the main target is on leveraging the present ecosystem whereas navigating evolving laws. Nevertheless, in Guatemala, the principle problem is foundational — constructing monetary entry from the bottom up and fostering belief in digital providers.
What are your future plans?
Synthetic intelligence is the subsequent frontier — and a non-negotiable one. FitBank is totally dedicated to growing AI-powered monetary providers. In late 2024, we launched MaiaPaga, or just Maia—an AI-driven assistant that permits customers to scan and pay payments by way of a photograph, schedule funds, and extra — all by means of WhatsApp. Maia can be getting used as a digital assistant in our credit score market and can quickly be accessible to customers in Mexico as effectively.
In March 2025, we partnered with Mastercard to launch Xpertia, an answer designed for ERPs to supply white-label monetary providers. It integrates seamlessly into ERP platforms, enabling them to ship a full spectrum of embedded monetary capabilities. Brazil is presently the fifth-largest ERP market on the planet, with progress effectively above the worldwide common, making this a big strategic alternative.
Last ideas
We’re very optimistic in regards to the future. FitBank has a singular capability to scale and course of transactions by means of a proprietary core banking system developed completely by our in-house expertise staff. This permits us to ship high-performance, low-cost infrastructure with seamless integration capabilities, opening the door to numerous potentialities for sustainable, sturdy progress throughout Latin America and past.
