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Contxto – Visa and NovoPayment recently popped out a new product: “Prepaid in a Box.” This platform aims to ease fintechs’ and banks’ transition into offering digital solutions for consumers in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Co-Founded by Venezuelan Anabael Pérez, NovoPayment operates as a banking-as-a-service startup in Miami, Florida.
It raised funding with Visa last year, so it only makes sense that they’re teaming up for this new project which also fits nicely into the region’s growing fintech scene.
So just what is in Prepaid in a Box? The essentials when it comes to financial products.
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Visa and NovoPayment get back to basics for Latam
For now, the startup offers two core white-label products.
The first is a digital account for making electronic payments. And its second is a remittance and disbursement solution through which people can complete online purchases as well as complete P2P transactions.
Evidently, this platform covers the most basic of API products for fintechs and banking institutions. But this was on purpose, considering the current state of affairs in Latam.
“As we begin the path to recovery in our markets, it is important to focus on the relevance of digital inclusion,” said Ricardo Tafur, Head of Consumer Payments for Visa Latin America and the Caribbean.
“Where consumers who are transacting for the first time online or receiving government subsidies or remittances from abroad, regardless of them being banked or unbanked, have the ability to be part of the digital economy–which has seen an exponential acceleration in the last few months,” concluded the executive.
Integration takes somewhere between 10 to 14 weeks, according to Prepaid In a Box’s website.
Though the product is aimed at all of Latin America and the Caribbean, Mexico and Brazil have been the focal points in the fintech boom.
Open banking in Latin America
Uncoincidentally, both Brazil and Mexico have been rolling out regulations that address open banking in their respective countries.
Meanwhile in places like Peru and Chile there is no official ruling. In the latter’s case, authorities are still trying to figure out what approach to take in regards to open banking.
Should it be self-regulated by the industry itself? This is a model seen in countries like the United States and Japan. Or should the government directly oversee and control open banking as is the case in Australia?
Then there’s a third option, the hybrid approach taken by Mexico.
Lucky for Chile, it has a growing number of examples from which it can learn.
Meanwhile in Argentina and Colombia, regulators and private entities alike have nodded their heads and basically said “yes, yes this is important, let’s talk about it.”
But nothing has truly materialized beyond that.
Related articles: Tech and startups from Venezuela!
-ML
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