ARGENTINA Law and Practice Contributed by: Santiago J. Mora, Nicolas Garfunkel, Milagros Caneda and May Steward, GPG Advisory Partners
GPG Advisory Partners Av. Córdoba 315, 1st floor. C1054AAC CABA Argentina Tel: +54 11 4313 6644/6655 Fax: +54 11 4313 6644/6655 Email: info@gpgadvisorypartners.com Web: www.gpgadvisorypartners.com
1. Fintech Market 1.1 Evolution of the Fintech Market Argentina’s fintech market continued growing during the past year. According to the latest surveys, the local eco - system comprises approximately 383 compa - nies. This increase represents a growth rate of 11.7% compared to the previous year. In terms of payments, banking and digital pay - ment accounts grew by approximately 21% from April 2024 to August 2024, reaching 228.5 mil - lion. There were 1.584 million immediate trans - fers in the second quarter of 2024 (84% year-on- year), 1.283 million of which originated or ended in a fintech account (86% year-on-year). One of the regulatory novelties in the payment sector was the opening of the payment sys - tem for public transportation. Through Decree 698/24, the scope of the fare collection system was broadened to include a variety of payment methods that ensure interoperability across all modes of public transport all over the country. This includes surface and underground railways, passenger river transport, and cable car servic - es. Prior to this, the “SUBE” card was the sole
means of payment for these services. With the new regulation, however, the payment ecosys - tem has been expanded to accept additional payment methods, including fintech payments. Regarding credit, according to the latest report from the Fintech Chamber, as of June 2024, it had been recorded that Argentina reached 6 million fintech credit holders. Additionally, out of the 34.1 million credits granted in the coun - try, 18.8% were issued by fintech companies. In contrast, in December 2023, 37.2 million credits were granted, with 15% being issued by fintech companies. On the cryptocurrency front, Argentina was ranked fifteenth in the world and second in Latin America in the latest Chainalysis Global Crypto Adoption Index. This segment is now undergoing a regulatory transition, among other things, with the enactment of Law No 27,739 that defined the concepts of “virtual asset” ( activos virtuales or AV) and “virtual asset service providers” (p roveedores de servicios de activos virtuales or PSAV), designated PSAVs as obligated entities before the Financial Information Unit ( Unidad de Información Financiera or UIF), and created a PSAV Registry under the National Securities
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