PODCAST | Regional rising star: Latin America’s payments success

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Latin America (LatAm) is undergoing significant transformations in its financial technology (fintech) landscape. 

At the 2025 Sibos conference in Frankfurt, Germany, Silvia Andreoletti, Senior Reporter at Trade Finance Global (TFG),  had the opportunity to speak with Ximena Alemán, Co-CEO and Co-Founder of Prometeo, a Latin American payments network. They discussed the role of Prometeo and how it is consolidating what has been in motion within the financial landscape for a while.

Prometeo “provides a single point of access to banks in [Latin America], aggregating more than 1200 financial institutions in our platform across 11 countries”, said Alemán. They aim to “bridge the infrastructure gap between these countries, the US, Mexico, Brazil, what we call the long-tail LatAm.” Much of the banking infrastructure in LatAm is entrenched in legacy institutions. 

The LatAm economy relies heavily on cash: it’s a physical, historic and therefore dependable store of value. 70% of the LatAm population is either unbanked or underbanked, and with a population of over 6.5 million, the region certainly deserves its time in the (fintech) spotlight.

Prometeo is Latin America’s “largest open banking platform”, said Alemán. Latin America is certainly catching up with Western markets in terms of its open banking frameworks. The issue involves enhancing interconnectivity and interoperability: if interoperability remains lacking, banks will encounter high costs due to slow transaction processing times. 

Digital banking renaissance in LatAm

Now, more than ever, the work of Prometeo is crucial. The usage of digital banking in Latin America has increased by 40% since 2020. This is extremely promising and signals that Latin America is heading in the right direction. However, they need a reciprocally adequate financial infrastructure to support the growth of modern banking systems – or risk financial stagnation.

But vulnerability could be a thing of the past: Brazil launched its fast-payment system, PIX, in November 2020, and its growth has been impressive, covering at least 85% of Brazil’s adult population. 

“The [LatAm] region is very effervescent. It’s going through what feels like a revolution…a very strong impulse in terms of moving the infrastructure forward,” remarked Alemán. Brazil has successfully expanded user access and improved domestic transactions. Other countries to watch, according to Alemán, are Argentina, Colombia, Peru, and Uruguay: all experiencing growth due to fintech innovations. 

This simultaneous growth in the region suggests that a fintech-led payment renaissance is underway. 

However, just like any renaissance, it can manifest in a myriad of forms; in the case of LatAm’s revolution, there is some semblance of disconnectedness. Alemán highlights the issue that “each of these countries [is] making its own path towards the new infrastructure.” There are significant discrepancies regarding the stages these countries are at.

Brazil’s payment system, Pix, is in its advanced stages, and Pix Automático has been making headway. Brazil’s infrastructure is prepared for scaleability, come what may. 

The story is slightly different for Chile: The governor of the Central Bank of Chile addressed the need to “further strengthen prudential requirements” to properly support the growth of their Retail Payments Clearinghouse, which was introduced in 2020. Instability and volatility remain a worry for Chile, which has certainly seen great success in recent years.

Regulation: An advantage for fintech

LatAm is keen to consider benchmarks when thinking about its regulatory framework: “Usually Europe is very well regarded by Latin America regulators in terms of compliance, data protection, how the user is protected in the end,” said Alemán.

LatAm could be thinking further about integration, especially in cases of DLT (distributed ledger technology) interoperability. In light of the European Central Bank’s (ECB) scheduled launch of Pontes and Appia, its dual system for transforming its approach to wholesale finance, with Pontes expected to be piloted by the end of 2026.

But as it stands, the regulatory environment has been favourable to innovations in digital payments and banking systems. Alemán commented on the laudable efforts of central banks “trying to push the infrastructure so it can be widely adopted,” with “Brazil, Argentina, and Mexico’s RTP systems (being) government-backed.”

The beneficiaries of regulatory friendliness have been the heralds of payment innovation – Fintechs. Alemán mentioned that they are “usually startups “that need regulatory certainty.” This regulatory flexibility facilitates growth in LatAm.

Additionally, mandated financial inclusion has certainly encouraged cash displacement in Latin America. Alemán remarked that maintaining a careful balance between innovation and protection contributed to the “explosion” of Pix. 

RTP systems have been correspondingly impressive across Latin America: Nequi in Colombia, MODO in Argentina, and SPEI in Mexico have all refined their methods of facilitating basic payment transfers. 

The Nequi is aiming to expand its user base, aiming to become a Pan-Latin American system providing access to its south-western neighbour, Peru, which is “analysing open banking”, said Alemán. MODO is experiencing significant success as a payment aggregator: delivering embedded services at an unprecedented scale for the region, a testament to the fruits of the Open Banking Framework (2022) introduced by the Argentine Central Bank. 

As Alemán reinforces, the Latin American adoption of “open banking frameworks” lends to its ongoing “revolution.” 

Geopolitical uncertainty and the fintech AI nexus

In light of US tariff announcements, shockwaves were felt across the globe. Alemán notes that the payment industry was “able to somehow metabolise that.”

The codependency between financial innovation and AI had a role to play here, or as Alemán called it “the urge for more efficiency in the industry.” She hoped that it would urge innovation, spurring “local financial players to adopt new infrastructure that makes the money flow more efficiently.”

The groundwork has definitely been laid by the likes of Brazil to scale automation towards AI-enhancement. Colombia may not be far behind, with the International Finance Corporation’s (IFC) Digilab Finance accelerating its digitalisation efforts, with a focus on harnessing AI-powered algorithms to enhance credit assessments.

Prometeo has recently launched their “first MCP so that agents can perform operations through our infrastructure.” MCPs, or Model Context Protocols, are used to integrate AI with external systems. “We feel really proud about being pioneering right now, this new Atlantic wave in financial services”, reflected Alemán.

Rightly so, as it paves the way for API-fication – “but it’s not there yet,” she remarked. MCPs can enhance connectivity between systems and increase the potential for automation within payment finance, thus a step in the right direction for Latin America. 

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LatAm has found its footing in the digital banking and payments network, with local specialisation certainly booming. Prometeo hopes to build a future of large-scale interoperability, which will no doubt shake up the payments arms race.