The new needs of users and the maturing of the Fintech ecosystem are driving the advance of digital banks in Latin America, a more consolidated trend globally.

Far from any antagonism, neobanks coexist with traditional banking and complement it, with an offer of innovative, agile, flexible and 100% digital financial services.

The care model: With a license to operate and regulated by the Central Bank just like traditional banks, these entities propose a service and management model without branches, where users can open and close an account, make payments and transfers, obtain debit and credit cards , buy and sell currencies, open a fixed term or take out a loan, from a web page or a mobile application.

The 100% online service has great benefits for customers, because the contracting of services is done remotely, quickly, in a few steps and without paperwork. Also, in most cases, the opening and maintenance costs are usually very low or non-existent.

Users increasingly value self-management experiences and the possibility of operating with a digital bank allows them to carry out procedures, queries and transactions in their account, at any time of the day, without having to be subject to the opening hours proposed by banks traditional.

Financial education and inclusion: In terms of financial education, the new digital banks are a key tool, because their disruptive model is attractive to the younger segments and some are even allowing users as young as 13 to open accounts.

But also, like fintech, they facilitated the financial inclusion of people who were excluded from traditional banking because, among other access barriers, they did not meet the requirements to open an account.

Technology allows digital banks to develop a customer-centric model, be closer to their demands and offer tailored products and personalized experiences, another key attribute when it comes to adding new users and retaining them.

Traditional banking is transformed

In relation to the innovative and agile model proposed by the neobanks, traditional banking seems to move more slowly due to the regulatory burden that weighs on its back, the high operating costs linked to its face-to-face service proposal and its network of branches, among other factors. .

Challenged by customer demand and the progress of fintechs and neobanks, in recent years they have been driving a transformation towards increasingly innovative and disruptive models, through partnerships with other fintechs, creating their own digital banks or strengthening their banking proposal. value to users with a strong technological imprint.