Fintech 2025

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

In the context of the fourth country evalua - tion carried out in 2024 by the FATF, Congress passed Law No 27,739, aligning local rules with international anti-money laundering (AML) standards. The law established a registry for vir - tual asset service providers and designated pay - ment service providers (PSPs) and virtual asset service providers (VASPs) as reporting entities. In turn, the Financial Information Unit ( Unidad de Información Financiera or UIF) issued comple - mentary regulations that directly impacted PSPs and VASPs, which were included as “reporting entities” under the reformed AML Law. Drastic monetary policy changes and improved economic conditions fuelled a 60.5% real-term increase in private sector credit in 2024. As a percentage of GDP, domestic credit rose from 4.4% in 2023 to 6.9%, still below the global average of 50%, indicating significant growth potential in lending and other fintech verticals. 2025 promises further exploration in QR pay - ment interoperability, blockchain, tokenisation, and open finance. Supported by a favourable regulatory environment and high fintech adop - tion, Argentina is positioned for sustained digital transformation. In the following sections, we will cover the regu - latory measures taken by the Argentinian author - ities in 2024 and evaluate foreseeable measures that may be implemented shortly. Additionally, we will attempt to decode how the Argentinian fintech industry may evolve through 2025. Payments Vertical Interoperability of QR codes Continuing with the widespread adoption and growth of electronic payments not only in Argen - tina but worldwide, and the measures already implemented by the BCRA during 2023, in April

2024, the interoperability of QR codes was extended for credit card payments as it was pri - marily implemented for payment transactions with money deposited in digital wallet accounts or with debit cards. Based on this, merchants must accept credit card payments from any digital wallet, regardless of who the provider of the QR code is. In addition, acquirers and aggregators may not discriminate in fees and crediting terms according to the wallet used and must offer a single QR that accepts all payment instruments. In May 2024, the BCRA introduced additional amendments, establishing that all measures applicable for credit card payment through QR code scanning would also be applied to prepaid card payments. Besides, liability for credit card payment fraud was assigned to the entity pro - viding the interoperable digital wallet, except in certain specific cases and established the maximum commission that digital wallets can charge credit card issuers for each processed Argentina leads Latin America in the use of digital accounts and transfers, with 95% of the population using payment apps on their mobile devices. In line with this considerable expansion in the use of digital money in August 2024 the Execu - tive Branch, through Decree No 731/2024, stipu - lated that gastronomic, hospitality, and related sectors, fuel dispensers, home deliveries, and other activities where it is customary to give or receive tips must provide electronic means for workers to receive them, excepting certain com - mercial activities from this obligation. transaction. Digital tips

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