The growth and development of the Fintech ecosystem in Latin America has been evident in recent months and years. An understanding of the Fintech solutions that are being developed in the region can help explain how the transformation of the financial services industry is progressing and generate findings that can result in the creation of public policies, increase public and private investment in strategic Fintech segments, and the subsequent development of more differentiated financial services and products for certain segments of the population.
That is why the region increasingly needs a systematic effort to monitor Fintech activity in Latin America. In this context, since the beginning of 2016, Finnovista began an initiative to identify, map and segment Fintech startups in different countries of the region, having already identified more than 350 startups in four major markets: Argentina, Chile, Colombia and Mexico.
Given the strategic importance of Fintech for the region, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) recognizes the need for an exhaustive analysis and study of Fintech in Latin America, identifying it as a high priority topic for the IDB that will also allow to benchmark the current state of the Latin American Fintech against other regions in the world.
As part of the Demand Solutions initiative, the IDB has seen in Finnovista a natural partner to develop the largest and most comprehensive analysis of the Fintech sector in Latin America. We are inviting Fintech startups from the following 18 countries to complete the IDB Fintech Startups Survey: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Dominican Republic, Uruguay, and Venezuela.
The IDB Fintech Startups Survey will allow us to identify, segment, and analyze Fintech entrepreneurship in Latin America. Aggregated information on the industry will be published as part of a final report that will be available on both the IDB and Finnovista websites in early 2017 and distributed to government entities, policymakers, financial regulators, financial institutions, chambers of commerce, business communities and media, among others.
We would like to encourage all Fintech startups from the previously mentioned 18 countries to complete the IDB Fintech Startups Survey in order to make this research the largest initiative for gathering information on the Fintech industry in Latin America, while participating in the development and awareness of Fintech entrepreneurship in Latin America.
The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) is devoted to improving lives. Established in 1959, the IDB is a leading source of long-term financing for economic, social and institutional development in Latin America and the Caribbean. The IDB also conducts cutting-edge research and provides policy advice, technical assistance and training to public and private sector clients throughout the region.