The Business Year

Margarita Henao

CEO, Daviplata

Andrés Vásquez

Business Director, Nequi

Established with the premise of increasing financial inclusion in the country, digital banks have played a crucial role in providing more Colombians with access to financial services.

What impact has the company had in Colombia?

MARGARITA HENAO Today, it has more than 14 million customers and a history of more than a decade. DaviPlata has played an important role in the financial inclusion of Colombia; at this point 42% of the adult population of Colombia has DaviPlata, moving their money or making payments and many more functionalities, all through a cell phone and without the need to open a bank account. We allow all our clients to access different payment methods without requiring experience or additional paperwork. Our customers can open a prepaid Virtual Card in a matter of seconds to shop online anywhere in the world, with the support of the Mastercard franchise; the best thing is that the card is completely free. Likewise, we developed the ecosystem of physical payments, we have reached more than 1.2 million stores and businesses in the country, allowing them to receive payments through QR codes and connecting them with the millions of users who have DaviPlata. Clients can access different products and services such as a broad portfolio of microinsurance as well as nanocredits. DaviPlata bets on the construction of ecosystems, seeking to connect with strategic allies such as the Rappi superApp with RappiPay and we connect to the first smart city where DaviPlata has achieved a strategic alliance with the Medellín Metro so metro users can also enjoy city services in a single application, thanks to the implementation of the Civic SuperApp, facilitating the mobility of citizens and their monetary transactions.

ANDRÉS VÁSQUEZ After registering increased growth during the pandemic, reaching 10 million users, we kept seeing a constant number of new monthly additions even after its effects had faded. In fact, Nequi is becoming the standard for transactions for all people, including the informal market of the street vendors in remote areas. Growth has had an impact by changing the way people interacted with banking. We see a higher impact in informal businesses, through financial inclusion in the informal areas. If you go to any beach or island in Colombia, you see the street and beach vendors receiving payments through Nequi. QR code payment has seen exponential growth over the past year, having become the most used payment method. We have seen a change in terms of how people handle their money, their savings. Most transactions made are those of people that work in the informal economy, but this means we have reached them through financial inclusivity. This allows us to create more assertive credit models. When we spoke in 2021, we had not yet launched our new product, but now through it we have been able to reach many more people with credit and microcredit offers and possibilities, which enable them to boost their informal businesses or consumer loans. The community and user cluster we have gained has crystallized our end objective, aimed at providing inclusivity not only through savings and transaction, but also through loans.

How do you see the future in terms of international expansion?

MH DaviPlata is already found at a regional level, as is the case in El Salvador, but we always seek to be in more countries. In Colombia, we have an important position, and we are working to make the platform scalable to enter with force in other countries. For example, Israel is an example of innovation, where everything it creates is aimed at expanding abroad, and it also has the largest number of patents in global terms. It is important to learn from cases like Israel creating scalable products, and technology will allow us to cross international borders

How are you making the most of your customer base to capitalizes on loan opportunities?

AV We started with a small loan called the Lifesaver credit line, which corresponds to loans of between COP100,000 and COP500,000 to be paid within a month, designed to be used in case of emergencies. We had been working for around two years with that product. In October 2021, we started with a credit line of between COP500,000 and COP5 million, a product that enables users to defer payments to up to 24 months. Just in 2021 more than 114,000 people were able to access a loan. With this new product, we have the possibility of reaching 400,000 people in 2022 with loans. The most important data Nequi has after reaching 10 million users and increasing its activity dramatically, is the potential it has to reach people that we unable to access a loan in the past and granting them credit lines.

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