During 2021, the consolidation process of the fintech ecosystem in Mexico continued with the definitive authorization of some institutions by the National Banking and Securities Commission (CNBV); the rejection of others and the withdrawal of some more. This situation is expected to continue in 2022 along with the emergence of new Unicorns in the sector.
In its Annual Report on the exercise of the powers conferred by the Law for Transparency and Regulation of Financial Services, July 2020 to June 2021, Banco de México (Banxico) reveals that, as of November of last year, the financial authorities had received 120 applications to establish a fintech.
Of these, he details, 78 are from Electronic Payment Fund Institutions (IFPE) and 42 from Collective Funding Institutions (IFC); and additionally 7 requests had been received to operate new models.
The report specifies that, through the inter-institutional committee, the CNBV had resolved 81 files, of which 58 were authorized, 23 rejected; In addition, 23 withdrawals were registered and 23 cases were under review.
However, as of November 2021, according to the latest Financial Stability Report of Banxico itself, only 24 of the 58 authorized had their licenses published in the Official Gazette of the Federation, being 14 IFPE and 10 IFC; while the rest, although they already have the endorsement, are conditional, that is, they must meet certain requirements before having the definitive license.
It is worth mentioning that the Law to Regulate Financial Technology Institutions, the Fintech Law, only applies to companies in the categories of collective financing and electronic payment funds.
Fusions and acquisitions
Thus, in 2021 the first mergers and acquisitions carried out by some fintech companies were completed.
The protagonists of these movements in the financial system have been some of the fintech companies that did not request a license to operate as Collective Funding Institutions (ITF).
Among them is Credijusto (which operates as an unregulated multi-purpose financial company and specializes in financing small and medium-sized companies, SMEs), which confirmed the purchase of Banco Finterra, one of the smallest in the sector, for an amount estimated at 50 million dollars.
Likewise, the Brazilian fintech Nubank confirmed the purchase of the popular financial society (sofipo) Akala. This figure allows capturing savings from the general public.
For its part, the Argentine fintech Ualá, seeking to accelerate its expansion and growth plans in Mexico, announced the purchase of the Mexican bank ABC Capital, although this operation is still subject to the endorsement of the authorities.
There was also the purchase of Señor Pago por Konfío, this involving only financial technology companies.
The unicorns
Throughout 2021, different fintech have announced capital injections from different funds, some of these reaching the category of unicorn, that is, valued at more than 1,000 million dollars.
Clip is one of these unicorns, who in mid-2021 received an investment of 250 million dollars from the Latin American fund of the Japanese bank Softbank and Viking Fund, which with this investment reached a valuation of 2 billion dollars.
For its part, Bitso also reached a valuation of more than 2,000 million dollars in May; while only in September Konfío achieved a valuation of 1,300 million dollars, after an additional injection of capital for 110 million dollars.
At the end of 2021, the startup Clara announced that it received a financing round for 70 million dollars, with which it achieved a valuation of 1,000 million.
Reference-www.eleconomista.com.mx