Webinar Frontal Trust: “50% of Chilean Fintech are considering exporting their model”

Webinar online / 13-01-2021
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The meeting was attended remotely by entrepreneurs, investors and financial executives, who were able to know up-to-date figures of the industry, the evolution of different projects and the opportunities that are presented for the future, from the expert gaze of the Argentine engineer Gustavo Rivera-Luna, from the digital transformation firm, Neuronal.

On January took place 13 the eighth webinar of Frontal Trust, entitled “Fintech: Revolution or Evolution?”. The meeting was attended by the industrial engineer Gustavo Rivera-Luna, an expert in digital business in Banking and Financial Retail, digital strategy, transformation and change management, who discussed the impact that new financial technologies will have on the economy, business and on everyday life.

In an interesting conversation, moderated by Andrés Echeverría, president of Frontal Trust, the investment fund manager specializing in alternative assets, various topics were discussed, confirming that digital innovation is breaking through into the world of finance, radically impacting the business models of firms operating in this industry.

It should be mentioned that Frontal Trust, through its Private Equity area, has a stake in Cordada, a Fintech that has a platform of more than four years of history, through which more than 12,000 medium and small enterprises and more than 45,000 operations have been financed, totaling USD 1,500 million.

In his presentation, Rivera-Luna said that 50% of Chilean Fintech, within a universe of more than a hundred, are in a position to export their model and that they have already considered this in their plan. “Fintech businesses are achieved by economies of scale and opportunities. Taking a business model and adapting it to local reality today is a lot simpler and faster with technology. And in that sense, Colombia, Peru, and Mexico presented themselves as the best markets for the Chilean Fintech.”

The executive, who has worked at firms such as Cencosud, Scotiabank, Bradesco and Falabella, said that Chile needs scalable businesses that allow to grow rapidly, because we have limited capacity in terms of customers and industry size. “Chile needs to be analyzed at the regional level. The Fintech ecosystem allows you be released from physical constraints, as the technology is available anywhere.”

Regarding the focus of what is being developed in Chile, Rivera-Luna said, “50% of Chilean Fintech are focused on providing means of payments, loans, lending, and crowdfunding. Other initiatives, such as insurance or financial management, require more maturity, but I think we will see several surprises in the following year.”

In relation to the Fintech Act, Rivera-Luna stated that “we are lagging behind in relation to the region. However, the preliminary draft is moving forward. We have to celebrate that it is being regulated, because part of the obstacles we face as an industry the lack of knowledge and confidence of the market, as it is not regulated.”

The expert said that from now on Chilean Fintech have to build alliances with the traditional banking financial system. “By regulation, policies, and procedures, there is still the idea that an end to end is feasible in the traditional model. But no, the banking business has to take a step further and open up to developing a collaborative working model with the Fintech. He added that “the most virtuous scenario for the financial industry is to have the flexibility of the Fintech and the strength of traditional banking. There is space, but we need to develop alliances to generate new opportunities and reach out to niches that the banking market is unable to cover. At the end of the day, the Fintech’s great goal, in addition to speed, flexibility and better costs, is the financial inclusion.”