Fintech 2025

ARGENTINA Trends and Developments Contributed by: Maria Victoria Funes, Luciano Zanutto, Camila G. Lima and Tomas Celerier, Bomchil

Overview In Argentina, 2024 marked the start of a new administration grappling with economic, politi - cal, and social challenges. Amid significant policy shifts, the Argentine fintech industry demonstrated resilience, continuing its robust growth trajectory. As recession and high infla - tion subside, 2025 presents new opportunities for the sector. As per the latest Finnovista survey, the fintech ecosystem now includes 383 firms, with a bal - anced concentration in key verticals. Payments and remittances lead with 16.9% of the mar - ket, followed by lending (15.7%) and enterprise financial management (15.4%). Crypto saw notable expansion, doubling from 20 firms in 2023 to 36 in 2024, accounting for 9.4% of the market. Other verticals, including technological infrastructure for banks, wealth management, and insurtech, held steady at 11.7%, 8.9%, and 8.6%, respectively. Despite inflation dropping significantly from 211.4% in 2023 to 117.8% in 2024, demand for yield-generating fintech services remained high. Analysts predict further inflation reduc - tion to approximately 26.2% in 2025, potentially shifting consumer preferences from defensive investments to more profitable instruments. The fintech industry, boosted by market-friend - ly regulations, offers easy access to investment options for customers so is poised to capitalise on this trend. According to the Retail Payments Report pub - lished by the Argentine Central Bank (BCRA), mutual fund investments via fintech accounts surged, reaching ARS3.2 trillion in October 2024, a 430% year-over-year increase. By November 2024, fintech accounts held 5.2% of private sec - tor deposits, up from 2.58% the previous year,

reflecting growing public trust and fintech’s role in driving financial inclusion. In the payments vertical, push transfers dou - bled year-over-year by November 2024, out of which three-quarters involved fintech accounts. The sector’s strength and interoperability were further highlighted as nearly half of Argentine fintech start-ups expanded internationally. Tensions persisted between banks and fintechs over the interoperable transfer system linking bank and virtual accounts, as fintechs contin - ued to attract deposits with interest-bearing accounts and investment options. QR payment interoperability also saw rapid growth, with transactions increasing by 133.4% year-over- year. As per the Retail Payments Report pub - lished by the BCRA, out of 51.9 million accounts registered with the BCRA by November 2024, 14.5 million were held with Payment Services Providers, indicating fintech’s growing influence. President Javier Milei’s administration intro - duced market-friendly reforms, creating oppor - tunities for fintech. Executive Decree 698/2024 ended the state monopoly on the SUBE (a prepaid card managed by state-owned bank, Banco de la Nación Argentina) public transport payment system, enabling competition and inte - gration of new payment methods such as debit, credit, NFC, and QR codes. Additionally, a fiscal amnesty programme inject - ed USD32.15 billion into the banking system, boosting foreign currency deposits and trans - fers. New regulations were enacted allowing businesses to display prices in US dollars and pesos, permitting cardholders to make pay - ments with debit cards, both in pesos and dol - lars, through QR code scanning.

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