AI Agents purchased books across 5 countries in Santander+Visa pilot | TWIF LatAm (03/18)

Hola amig@s fintech,

This Thursday marks the International Day of Happiness. The idea was first proposed to the United Nations by Bhutan, the small Himalayan kingdom that measures progress not by GDP, but by Gross National Happiness.

To mark the day, the World Happiness Report 2026 is released this week. In last year’s edition, Mexico was the only Latin American country in the top 10. We’ll see how the region fares this time.

Whatever the ranking shows, Latin Americans may have more reasons to smile soon: Santander and Visa completed a pilot in which AI agents made real purchases across five markets in the region. Bots handling errands might just be the secret ingredient to happiness.

Personally, I’ll be truly happy when AI agents wake up at 5:30 and go to the gym for me. Until then, here’s your weekly fintech briefing.

~Vivi

A recent report examines how different generations in Mexico use credit, including usage levels, balances, and average amounts across the financial system. Millennials (40.85%) and Gen X (35.59%) hold the majority of credit, while Gen Z shows greater credit fragility. Women (63%) lead in participation and show slightly stronger repayment behavior, at 94.51% versus 93.96% for men.

The article What’s in Store for Latin America’s Venture Capital Landscape in 2026, offers a high-level view of how the region’s VC market is evolving after the sharp slowdown in funding over the past two years. It highlights a more selective but concentrated recovery, with $4.1 billion invested across 681 deals, up 13.8% in capital while deal count falls to its lowest level since 2017, pushing average ticket sizes to $6.1 million. Fintech continues to dominate, accounting for 29% of transactions but 61% of total capital. The piece underscores a clear shift toward profitability, capital efficiency, and more disciplined investment, with fewer rounds, longer fundraising cycles, and greater scrutiny on fundamentals shaping how startups are built and financed across the region.

This post explains that digital payment fraud shows detectable patterns that teams can monitor early. It underscores that effective prevention relies on advanced analytics and real-time monitoring. You can read more about this and the broader trends shaping fraud across the ecosystem in our new This Week in Fraud newsletter.

In this episode of Buena Banda, Gabriela Zapata, a consultant and strategic advisor to institutions and fintechs across Latin America, shares her perspective on inclusive finance, financial health, and the importance of financial independence. Worth noting the “Fuck You Fund” as a tool for making autonomous decisions, particularly for women.

🇸🇻 Monetae, the Salvadoran financial infrastructure platform, agreed to acquire 100% of Transferencias de El Salvador, a regulated electronic money provider owned by AirPak. The deal aims to integrate electronic money, bitcoin services, and digital assets into a single platform. Pending regulatory approval; terms were not disclosed.

🇲🇽 Mercado Pago launched Point Tap in Mexico, enabling SMEs to accept contactless payments directly on Android smartphones using NFC. The solution targets a market where cash still accounts for around 80% of transactions, aiming to accelerate digital adoption.

🌎 Akurateco, a payment orchestration platform, integrated Smilepayz, a payment solutions provider, to expand its offering across Asia and Latin America. The move enables merchants and financial institutions to access localized payment methods in markets including Brazil, Mexico, and India through its network of pre-integrated connectors.

🇪🇨 Deuna launched Deuna Veci, a network of 3,500 retail points that enables users to deposit and withdraw through its app.The initiative connects digital financial services with physical cash access via partnerships with small businesses.

🇨🇱 trii, the Latin American mobile investment platform, launched US stock trading in Chile through a partnership with Alpaca, a US-based brokerage infrastructure provider. The offering gives local investors access to US equities and ETFs, including fractional shares, via a low-fee digital platform.

🇩🇴 Banco Popular Dominicano launched Toke, a new payments infrastructure aimed at expanding digital payments and financial inclusion in the country. The initiative seeks to broaden access and modernize the local payments ecosystem.

🌎 Banco Santander and Visa completed a controlled pilot of agentic commerce across Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, and Uruguay, marking Santander’s first multi-market test of AI-agent-powered payments in Latin America. Using Visa Intelligent Commerce, AI agents completed real purchases within predefined consent, compliance, and security parameters.

🇨🇴 Mibanco launched loan applications and CDT deposit accounts via WhatsApp in Colombia, using Meta-certified encryption. The rollout targets over 800,000 customers by 2026, expanding access in a mobile-first market.

🇧🇷 ABcripto, ABFintechs, and other industry groups issued a joint statement opposing a proposed 3.5% IOF tax on stablecoin transactions. The associations argue the measure could violate Brazil’s legal framework and hinder the development of the digital asset sector, following moves to classify these transactions as foreign exchange operations.

🇧🇷 The Central Bank of Brazil opened a 90-day public consultation to update rules for institutions operating financial market systems. The proposal introduces stricter standards on cybersecurity, governance, and interoperability, and requires adoption of the COSIF accounting framework by 2027.

🇧🇷 CSU Digital received authorization from Brazil’s Central Bank to operate as a Payment Institution, allowing it to issue electronic money and payment instruments. The approval expands its role beyond processing, after handling $94 billion in transactions in 2025.

🇵🇪 Perú’s Superintendencia de Banca, Seguros y AFP (SBS) has significantly raised transaction and balance limits for electronic money and basic savings accounts by linking them to the tax unit (UIT), allowing thresholds to adjust automatically over time.

🇵🇾 Paraguay is tightening oversight of crypto activity, requiring providers to report transactions to authorities. The measure aims to strengthen monitoring and align the sector with existing financial regulations.

🌎 Mastercard, outlined a broader push into blockchain-based payments, expanding support for stablecoin transactions across its network. The initiative includes partnerships with firms such as Binance, PayPal, and Ripple, with potential implications for markets including Latin America.

🇨🇷 Costa Rican agritech and fintech startups can apply for up to €120,000 in funding from Luxembourg under an international program, with applications open until March 30.

Stablecoins: women are rewriting the architecture of money (ES)

Stablecoins are gaining traction beyond crypto-native users, with more than 8 million people using them globally and a growing share of women adopting these tools. The article explores how, in markets like Mexico, stablecoins are increasingly used for everyday needs such as cross-border payments, savings in dollars, and financial autonomy, highlighting their role in expanding access to alternative financial systems and reshaping how money is used in practice.

Digital wallets: real change starts with open finance (ES)

In this opinion piece, the author argues that Peru’s digital payments ecosystem is evolving at a remarkable pace. In 2025 wallet transactions grew roughly 70% year over year and surpassed debit and credit cards combined in both volume and value. This rapid shift has been supported by interoperability and the expansion of QR payments in everyday commerce. The piece suggests the next phase could be even more transformative, as the Central Bank’s push toward open finance and payment initiation opens the system to greater competition and deeper integration across the financial ecosystem.

Made in LatAm with 🩵by 

Elena, Head of New Technologies at Afirme Financial Group

Carlos, ESG Analyst at CFECapital

Vivi, Communication expert and Principal at Areté Consulting

Feedback?  Reach out to us anytime! This week it’s Elena on read, post, and podcast of the week, funding, exits, other news and deeper reads; Carlos on policy, and product launches and partnerships; and Vivi on editing.

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