{"id":4642,"date":"2017-01-26T19:13:03","date_gmt":"2017-01-26T19:13:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.finnovista.com\/?p=12915&lang=en"},"modified":"2020-04-20T05:29:39","modified_gmt":"2020-04-20T05:29:39","slug":"latam-regulation-scorecard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.finnosummit.com\/en\/latam-regulation-scorecard\/","title":{"rendered":"LATAM Regulation Scorecard"},"content":{"rendered":"
I once overheard the managing director of a medium-sized wealth management firm say: \u201cour industry is more regulated than the nuclear industry.\u201d As someone in the Fintech space, my take was that she was relying on financial regulation to protect her firm\u2019s vision and business model; fortunately for the consumer, and the Fintech sector in general, regulators do not think along these lines, as demonstrated, for example, by the OCC in its <\/span>proposal to ease the requirements for Fintech startups<\/a><\/strong> in the United States, or larger-scale initiatives laid out by regulators in Singapore or UK. <\/span><\/p>\n At <\/span>Finnovista<\/a><\/strong> we have been building and developing the Fintech ecosystem in Latin America for the past four years with activities such as <\/span>FINNOSUMMIT<\/a><\/strong> in Bogot\u00e1 and Mexico City; Finnovista Pitch Days; <\/span>Fintech Radars<\/a><\/strong>; and through startup competitions such as FINNOSUMMIT Challenge, Innotribe Startup Disrupt and BBVA Open Talent. During this time, we have seen firsthand how the number of players willing to take part in the transformation and innovation of the industry has grown. <\/span><\/p>\n It is precisely this increase in the number of players that are innovating in the financial services industry that has led to greater efforts and conversations within the sector that are focused on adapting regulation to digital transformation. There\u2019s no doubt that one of the stakeholders that has shown greater interest in taking an active role in the ecosystem, both under their own initiative, as well as a result of Fintech startups\u2019 efforts, is the industry regulator. <\/span><\/p>\n In different countries around across Latin America, governments have taken actions to provide clarity to certain business models in the best interest of consumers and startups. For example, in June 2016, the Mexican Government presented the <\/span>National Financial Inclusion Strategy (NFIS)<\/a><\/strong>, which has as one of its main pillars the utilization of technological innovations to extend the use of financial products and services within a regulatory framework that provides security to all the participants of the financial system. <\/span><\/p>\n In several countries across Latin America, Fintech entrepreneurs have fostered the creation of professional associations aimed at representing and defending the interests of Fintech startups among regulators, promote the Fintech culture among the general public and coordinate the work required to drive better industry practices. A number of associations have emerged, for example: <\/span>Asociaci\u00f3n de Fondeo Colectivo (AFICO)<\/a><\/strong> in Mexico in 2014, the <\/span>Brazilian Association of Equity Crowdfunding<\/a><\/strong> in 2014, the <\/span>Mexican Fintech Association<\/a><\/strong> i<\/strong>n 2015, and the <\/span>Associa\u00e7\u00e3o Brasileira de Fintechs (ABFintechs)<\/a><\/strong> and the <\/span>Colombian Fintech Association<\/a><\/strong>, both in 2016. In the first month of 2017 we have already seen the formation of Camara Argentina de Fintech, an initiative led by the serial entrepreneur and founder of DineroMail (now PayU), iBillionaire and Moni, <\/span>Ale Estrada<\/a><\/strong>,<\/strong> and I am confident we will see similar initiatives in the coming months in other countries across the region. <\/span><\/p>\n