The growth of fintech marked the beginning of a hurried race for the digitalization of money, in a context in which half of the Argentines are not banked or, if it is, most use a savings account only to collect the salary , without making use of the rest of the financial services.
At this time, a large platoon of companies hurries their plans to launch their own virtual wallet and thus access a business clearly dominated by Mercado Libre (with Mercado Pago) and in which ATM networks are also looking for a place: TodoPago, of Prisma, owner of Banelco; and ValePEI, Link's alternative.
These are the extra-bank collection networks, which broke into the '90s as a "window" to pay bills for services without having to queue at a bank or the provider's office. They quickly expanded throughout the country - kiosks, booths, supermarkets and multiple spaces - and live a moment of great splendor.
In fact, Rapipago is the most successful franchise so far this year, with more than 600 openings, surpassing even the gastronomic ones. According to CAECEIS, a chamber that groups out-of-bank collection companies, the sector enjoys excellent health and numbers that impress:
- 20 million monthly customers
- 15,000 points of attention
- $ 960,000 million in annual collection
- 25,000 direct and indirect employees
- 6,000 services to pay
Thus, the companies in this segment already have their applications underway so that the cash - their main business - is digitized and can offer technology-based value services for their platforms. The objective: to grow in an expanding market.
Charge with the app
With more than 4,500 outlets throughout the country and 20 million monthly transactions, Rapipago finalizes details to present its own virtual wallet.
"Grupo Gire is launching, from its new fintech company IUNGAM, the Rapipago app as an evolution of the transactional experience of the physical world of branches," Amorina Gil, manager of the IUNGAM Business Unit, tells iProUP.
According to the executive, the application will allow to pay services, recharge the cell phone and the SUBE and make transfers to other users. You will also have a prepaid Mastercard card associated.
"You can activate your virtual version from the app and pay subscriptions or digital purchases without waiting for the plastic to arrive by mail," the executive completes.
Another of the companies in the sector that bet on virtual wallets is Plus Pagos, from ASJ Servicios, a firm of the Petersen Group dedicated to developing different fintech projects.
"From the possibility of opening virtual accounts, we offer this digital wallet to facilitate financial inclusion. People spend a lot of time at home with their cell phone in hand and we can provide them with access to banking services," says Alberto iProUP. Murad, general manager of ASJ Services.
Like the rest of the wallets, the user can load money into the virtual account, transferring from a bank or from the Plus Payments network, which has about 800 seats. Debit and credit cards can also be configured.
Provincia NET, which has more than 2,000 mouths in Buenos Aires territory, is also working "on a payment model via wallet," according to iProUP from the company.
"You can make payments on the networks or by scanning barcodes on some invoices. Everything goes to the Chinese model, where there are no cards, only WeChat," they add.
The next player to join the club will be Cobro Express, a network with a high presence on the coast, with more than 1,700 collection points that process 3 million monthly operations for more than US $ 3,500 million.
"We are still discussing the name it will have. It will be integrated with a prepaid card and will allow transfers between users," Ignacio Picatto, commercial manager of Cobro Express, points out to iProUP.
Who will shine for your absence is Easy Payment. "Currently, our strategy is focused on providing all the capacity and network to mobile wallets through alliances with Mercado Pago, PIM, Ualá, Cencosud and Naranja; and in Digital Banks such as Brubank, Rebanking and soon Wilobank", they point out to iProUP from the company.
It is that, precisely, the first services that these wallets add consists in the possibility of paying tickets and withdrawing cash through the debit card. This last business generates between 15 and 20 of the collection of the companies. But they go for more.
Complete ecosystem
Like Mercado Pago, these applications are committed to integrating benefits such as the possibility of paying purchases by scanning codes and offering banking services, such as loans and insurance. For this, in addition, payment networks take advantage of synergies with other companies in the umbrella group.
From the request of the Central Bank of the interoperability of QR, that is, that the code offered by the wallet of one company can be compatible with the wallet of another. Thus, it avoids that businesses and consumers have to install more than one.
"In this first stage, the benefits are 30% discount on all purchases with a certain monthly limit. Among the attached shops, there are service stations and supermarkets in Santa Fe, Entre Ríos, Santa Cruz and San Juan," says Murad.
On the local side, the proposal also points to better times of accreditation of funds with respect to Mercado Pago. "We have a term of 10 days for credit and 48 hours for debit, although we are going in some cases to an immediate transfer," says the director.
In addition, there are negotiations with a payment processing company so that "its 300 collection terminals can display the QR codes of the stores and users can read the wallet." For its part, the application of Rapipago will not have this function from the start, but Amorna Gil says that "it is in the evolutionary of the product".
In the case of Express Collection, they are sealing some alliances with shops, but they will be accepted in the stores of the chain of items that are part of the same group. Then it will expand to other locations.
"It is going to be able to read the QR in the Megatone boxes with the money in virtual account or with what you have preloaded in the prepaid", anticipates Picatto, who remarks that the app will also be used for granting credits.
According to Murad, from Plus Pagos, his wallet also allows "loans, insurance and bank account registration". All this is possible taking advantage of the integration with the regional entities that are part of the Petersen Group: the Santa Fe, Entre Ríos, Santa Cruz and San Juan banks.
"We developed the apps for the first remote deposit of checks with a photo with the endorsement of the BCRA. We also have an electronic signature product that we sold to four banks (one of them, national), Mercantil Andina and Fiat," he completes. the manager of ASJ Services.
This can be offered thanks to an application programming interface (API) offered to other companies that want to operate a white-wallet, self-service terminals for SUBE charging and cell phones for kiosks and even the Red Virtual collection network.
Rapipago also has links with the banks: the shareholders of Gire SA, the company that owns the brand and the Ducit flow conveyor, are Santander and HSBC. This will allow them to increase the customer base and their portfolio of services.
"With our shareholder banks we are working on the pre-banking of segments through simple and agile financial education, which allows social integration to be helped. We are also designing products together, such as loans or insurance, to expand the value offer," IUNGAM executive advances.
While transfers in Argentina are free, companies also point to the international sending and receiving of funds. In this sense, Collection Express owns the Transfery brand and the authorization before the Financial Information Unit (FIU) as a remittance company.
To do this, it has as partners global big players such as Xoom (from PayPal), MoneyGram and Ria, among others. Therefore, it is possible to send and receive payments from any collection agency Express and can also be made from the app with a rate of between 3 and 5% charged to the sender of the funds.
In the case of Easy Payment, it also offers this service through Western Union and can integrate it into third-party applications. Like its competitor, the commission varies according to the "broker" (countries between which operations are carried out) and on average reaches 1.8% of the transaction.
Salaries and retirement
The wallets of these companies offer savings banks linked to a Virtual Uniform Account (CVU), the fintech equivalent of the Uniform Bank Code (CBU) used by banks.
In this way, the exchange of funds between traditional and virtual financial institutions is enabled. In addition, it gives the possibility of acting as a means of payment of the ANSES for payments to beneficiaries of retirement, pensions and social plans.
"We are evaluating the salary accreditation in the client's account," says Murad, who adds that they are in negotiations with the pension agency. It is an interesting business since, according to the manager, it "generates a funding option".
The agency headed by Emilio Basavilbaso invited several virtual wallets to lower the costs of commissions charged by the Argentine Post for those beneficiaries who are far from a bank branch. Mercado Pago has already started the pilot test with 300 people and the second to do so was that of the Petersen Group.
"We will leave in September, in a town in Santa Fe that has between 50 and 300 beneficiaries of the scholarships and universal assignments. We have a three-year plan that we estimate in 250,000 clients, of which about 80,000 will be from ANSES", reveals Murad, from Plus Payments.
Why do collection networks move towards digitalization, despite the fact that their historical business is cash management? Picatto has the answer and is in the transformation: "We understand that the traditional cash business will migrate to electronic money."
