Banking licenses: Revolut approved in Peru, Nubank advancing in Brazil, DiDi bypasses it in Mexico | TWIF LatAm (04/01)

Hola amig@s fintech,

This week shows three different strategies to control access to financial services in Latin America.

Revolut just received regulatory approval in Peru, taking the licensed institution route. Nubank is moving to acquire an existing bank in Brazil to do the same. DiDi, meanwhile, is scaling credit and payments in Mexico without one.

The Accenture 2026 banking trends report, in our Deep Reads section, puts the broader frame on it: fintechs, stablecoins, and private credit are targeting core banking products, while the constraints that historically shaped banking are beginning to break down. Banks, they argue, must rethink their model, from infrastructure to how they compete. 

That evolving landscape is clearly visible in this edition.

~Vivi

🇧🇷 UnblockPay, the Brazilian company developing a stablecoin banking API that connects blockchain networks with local payment rails in LatAm, raised a $4.5M seed round led by Prelude, Plug and Play, Wintermute, Signature Ventures, and angel investors.

🇨🇴 Cifrato, the Colombian company building an AI-powered accounting automation platform for SMEs, raised over $1 million in Seed funding, backed by Y Combinator, along with Fen Ventures, Decelera Ventures, and Kuiper.

🇨🇱 Blanco, the Chilean startup offering financing solutions for SMEs and building an AI-powered digital bank, raised a $1.7M funding round through Broota, a collaborative investment platform.

🇧🇷 Ume, the Brazilian credit provider focused on point-of-sale financing, secured a $28.5M FIDC credit facility to expand lending capacity and deepen partnerships with retailers. 

🌍 Bitget Wallet launched the Onchain Payments Matrix, a global infrastructure layer that enables stablecoin payments across both crypto and traditional financial systems. The network spans 150 million merchants in 50 markets, integrating partners such as Ripple, Visa, Mastercard, Tether, Circle, and MoonPay.

🇲🇽 Clip, the Mexican digital commerce platform, enabled Tap to Pay on iPhone, allowing merchants to accept Apple Pay, contactless credit/debit cards, directly on their iPhones without needing a physical terminal.

🇧🇷 Kamino, a financial management platform for mid-sized Brazilian companies, launched a credit offering for working capital and receivables financing that uses clients’ operational data within the platform to assess risk and enable fast, fully digital disbursement.

🇲🇽 Mendel, the Mexican expense management platform, partnered with Visa to launch an AI-powered corporate travel platform that integrates payments, bookings, and expense control in a single solution.

🇦🇷 Mercado Pago enabled direct payments on international platforms like Shein and Temu, allowing Argentine users to pay seamlessly using their balance or linked cards. The update removes friction in cross-border purchases and reflects growing demand for international e-commerce in the country.

🇨🇱 Chilean fintech Toku launched an autonomous artificial intelligence agent designed to automate debt collection, utilizing behavioral analysis to optimize payment recovery strategies across multiple communication channels.

🇧🇴 Honda Autobol and Takenos, the Bolivian digital wallet, launched a campaign offering discounts on car maintenance to customers who pay through Takenos, showcasing the use of blockchain-based payments in everyday services.

🇨🇴 GOU Payments, the payments entity of Grupo Aval, received authorization from Colombia’s central bank to operate in the Bre-B immediate payments system, marking another step in the rollout of the country’s real-time payments infrastructure.

🌎  Mastercard and Volcán, a Central America–focused financial infrastructure provider, partnered to enable banks, fintechs, and cooperatives to launch payment products like cards and accounts in as little as 12 weeks. The initiative aims to reduce costs and complexity in a region where financial inclusion remains uneven and cash usage remains high.

🇲🇽 Covalto, the Mexican digital bank focused on SMEs, reported over 50% growth and is preparing to launch a mobile banking app as it expands its digital offering.

🇵🇪 Revolut, the UK-based digital bank, received approval from Superintendencia de Banca, Seguros y AFP (SBS) to establish a banking entity in Peru, as part of its broader expansion across Latin America, where it operates or is building a presence in Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, and Argentina.

🇲🇽 DiDi is expanding its financial services in Mexico using its SOFIPO license through JP SofiExpress, allowing it to scale credit and payments without pursuing a full banking license, as it seeks to convert its 30 million daily ride-hailing users into financial customers.

🇧🇷 Nubank, the Brazilian digital bank, was shortlisted to acquire the Brazilian unit of Portugal’s state-owned lender Caixa Geral de Depósitos, as part of its strategy to obtain a full banking license in Brazil by acquiring an existing regulated bank. 

🌎 IDB Group announced the opening of a new office in Miami, its first outside Washington, D.C.,  to accelerate investment flows into Latin America, aiming to catalyze regional economic development and cross-border capital deployment.

🇲🇽 Mercado Libre expanded its “Polos de Desarrollo” initiative in San Mateo Atenco, State of Mexico, reinforcing its logistics and regional economic development strategy while supporting local entrepreneurship and job creation.

🇲🇽 Fintoc, a Chilean platform for managing payments and collections, appointed Fausto Sainz as Country Manager for Mexico.

🇧🇴 Takenos, a Argentinian cross-border digital wallet, appointed Gonzalo Ostria as Country Manager for Bolivia, the goal is to consolidate an ecosystem both locally and internationally.

Accenture’s Top Banking Trends for 2026 report outlines how banks are entering an “unconstrained” era shaped by AI, digital assets, and new competitive pressures. It identifies six core shifts: money is being re-engineered through digital currencies and tokenization; customer experience is becoming AI-driven and embedded across channels; work is being transformed by agentic AI; legacy tech is becoming a constraint to growth; risk is turning into a real-time, system-wide capability; and competition is intensifying as fintechs and new players challenge banks’ control over deposits and lending. The report’s central message is that banks must move beyond incremental adoption and rethink their role, infrastructure, and business models to remain relevant.

SWIFT is progressing with the MVP implementation of its blockchain-based shared ledger, designed to synchronize financial records across institutions and improve coordination in cross-border transactions. The initiative explores how banks could manage tokenized assets, digital currencies, and traditional payment systems on a single interoperable network.

The study Super Apps: The New Engine of Financial Inclusion in Mexico, developed by The Competitive Intelligence Unit (CIU) and DiDi, examines how super apps are reshaping financial behavior in Mexico. It explores how millions of users are adopting integrated platforms for payments, credit, and everyday services, and how these ecosystems are gaining ground over traditional banks by embedding financial tools directly into daily life.

Crypto usage in Latin America is evolving from a response to inflation and currency instability into a more established layer of financial infrastructure. The article explores how stablecoins are moving into everyday use cases like remittances and payments, and how fintech distribution and improving on-ramps are helping embed crypto more deeply into the region’s financial system.

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, exists, other news and deeper reads, Carlos on policy, and product launches and partnerships, and Vivi on editing.

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