How did the pandemic impact the financial industry in Latin America in 2020?

Friday, August 6, 2021

How did the pandemic impact the financial industry in Latin America in 2020?

Covid-19 affected the world economy forcing financial entities to reinvent themselves in search of maintaining their customers, in this regard, technology applied to finance marked the development of this sector.

Covid-19 affected the world economy forcing financial entities to reinvent themselves in search of maintaining their customers, in this regard, technology applied to finance marked the development of this sector.
In an attempt to minimize losses and improve its services, the banking sector accelerated its digitization processes, so alliances with FinTechs increased in order to attract a greater number of users.
FinTechs seeks to break the traditional ways of doing business by offering financial services taking advantage of technologies.
According to the study carried out by Infocorp on the “Impact of the Pandemic on the Financial Industry in Latam and the Caribbean”, 86% of banks maintain that Covid-19 accelerated their digitization initiatives, however, only 40% increased their investment in technology from the pandemic.

In this study, 83 different banks participated, which for the analysis were segmented into four regions: Southern Cone (made up of Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay), Caribbean (Mexico, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic), Andean Region (Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela) and Central America (Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Honduras, and Panama).
A culture rooted in the use of cash where the lack of financial inclusion was even more evident with the pandemic, FinTechs became strategic allies to digitize transactions in banks.
Currently, only 25% of banks are still not able to offer any type of transaction completely online, and only 38% allow, for example, to apply for credit or debit cards online and 39% to apply for loans.
"The Caribbean was the region that registered the lowest growth in digital transactions, while the Southern Cone was the one that showed the highest increase with 11% of banks that increased their numbers in transactions of more than 100%", according to Infocorp.

The main challenge that financial institutions face is to adapt to the needs and expectations of the client, something in which FinTechs have excelled in the market, putting the user at the center of their developments.
Antit is a company whose founders seek to offer rapid design and development, advanced solutions, creation of complex and high-load mobile applications.
40% of banking entities increased their investment in technology in this aspect. Big Data analysis allowed creating personalized products more in line with the real needs of customers, helping to increase user retention.
However, there are still obvious gaps between technical knowledge and technology integration skills, for which it is necessary to seek external experts in digital technology.
Antit has highly qualified personnel in Information Technology (IT), cloud engineers, Big Data, or whatever it requires, being able to adapt and become the partner that your company needs in the digital transformation process.
"For the Central American region, the most important objective is to transform itself into a 100% digital Bank, continuing to expand functionalities and then renew channels."

"For the Caribbean there are three main priorities: renewing channels, transforming itself into a 100% digital bank, and expanding functionalities."
Likewise, as part of their post-pandemic strategies, financial institutions should look for service providers that allow them to accelerate their application modernization efforts.
"92% globally plan to increase the budget for digital channels reaching 98% in Central America."
Also, Time to Market (TTM) is another aspect that can be used by banks to optimize their banking applications as well as to improve their operational efficiency in terms of customer service.
FinTech has been the spearhead in the development of the TTM, showing that the secret is to have a highly qualified, interdisciplinary team, but above all, trained to get the best version in the shortest time.
In this regard, Antit stands out for having agile and experienced developers, specialists in delivering the best result most efficiently.
Antit is a company at the forefront of FinTech development offering innovative, versatile, and competitive products in a market that requires constantly reinventing ourselves to stand out in the face of a digital transformation that is ever faster.
In the same way, having a technological partner will facilitate the development of innovative solutions to create a strategic vision together.
At Antit we offer the perfect fusion between innovation, technology, and efficiency by focusing on improving the user experience with applications with intuitive, easy-to-use interfaces.
Besides, we offer you the facility to dedicate your time to what matters while we manage the improvements you require from the hand of the most qualified personnel in Information Technology (IT), Cloud engineers, or whatever you require.
Finally, we help you decide which applications and programs best suit your company by improving the management of your entity, with specific solutions to your needs that will make the digital transformation process easier for you, increasing the efficiency of your processes.

Melissa López
August 6, 2021
Banking