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Hola amig@s fintech,
Speed used to be the thing that won in payments. Not anymore. iupana's new industry report, based on interviews and a survey of bank and fintech executives, puts it plainly: the region's financial industry is shifting its strategic priorities away from velocity and toward the infrastructure and capabilities that will power the next generation of financial services, including agentic AI, smarter data use, and new cross-border rails.
Banks are ready to hand transactions to AI agents, but 25% of executives surveyed say user distrust, not technology, is what's actually holding it back. A2A payments have won the region's trust (64.29% expect high adoption in the next few years), but nobody's cracked how to make money on free instant transfers. And in stablecoins, the executives interviewed agreed that issuing your own coin is losing its edge: the real business, as one exec put it, is "custody," controlling the reserve everyone else builds on top of.
Enjoy the read.
~Vivi
The Rundown
🏦 M&A
🇧🇷 Beacon, a wealth-management platform for tech founders, acquired asset manager 314 Capital in an all-stock deal, pushing assets under management to $120 million.
🚀 Product Launches
🇲🇽 Mercado Pago revamped its Mexico app, reorganizing transfers, credit, and bill payments and adding AI tools that personalize which features and information each user sees first.
🌎 Visa launched "Empresaria Visa" with the IDB Group to close the financing gap for women-led SMEs across Latin America and the Caribbean, giving them a dedicated space on ConnectAmericas, the IDB's free business platform that connects entrepreneurs to financing, training, and trade networks.
🇧🇷 Bemobi, the Brazilian payments company for recurring bills, expanded into residential condos, signing Apsa, Brazil's third-largest condo manager, bringing Pix and credit card payments to the sector.
🇲🇽 Banco Dondé added in-app payments for electricity, water, phone, and internet bills, plus airtime top-ups, via tapi's infrastructure, reaching over 200,000 users, with growth projected to 400,000 by year-end.
💸 Fundraises
🇧🇷 Ume, the Brazilian credit infrastructure fintech for retailers, raised $96 million through an FIDC from Itaú, Bradesco, and Credit Saison.
🇨🇴 Yuno, the global payment orchestration platform, raised $45 million in Series B led by Global PayTech Ventures.
🌎 Galgo, the Chilean motorcycle financing platform, announced an undisclosed Uber investment to finance motorcycles for Uber drivers, launching in Mexico before expanding to Chile and Colombia in Q1 2027.
🏛️ Policy & Regulation
🇲🇽 Mexico's Secretaría de Hacienda y Crédito Público (SHCP) updated anti-money laundering rules to require full identity verification on every crypto transfer starting March 1, 2027, its largest crypto compliance expansion since the 2018 Fintech Law.
🇨🇱 The Central Bank of Chile opened a review of prepaid card rules, after finding its liquidity requirements don't cover funds users route off-balance into money-market accounts.
🗂️ Other News
🌎 BID Lab opened a call for VC funds targeting 2027 investment, requiring 80% LatAm allocation, pre-seed to Series B focus, and a $20 million minimum size.
🇦🇷 Mercado Pago charged 48% to 249% nominal annual rates in Argentina, an all-in cost that can reach 1,375.94%, mostly for first-time borrowers with no credit history.
Editor’s Picks
That’s all for now. We will see you back here next week!
