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Cross-Border Complexity Stays the Fixed

Monetary companies in Latin America have expanded quickly in recent times. Digital fee choices, cell banking, and fintech platforms at the moment are extensively adopted in a number of markets. However regardless of this progress, challenges tied to infrastructure proceed to form how innovation occurs throughout the area.

One of the vital constant points is fragmentation. Monetary techniques within the area don’t function underneath a shared mannequin. Every nation enforces its personal requirements and regulatory frameworks. The result’s a regional market that can’t be approached with a single answer or uniform structure. Integration efforts usually run into boundaries associated to definitions, entry, and expertise maturity.

For corporations working in a number of international locations, these variations have an effect on how shortly they will scale. Technical interoperability is commonly mentioned as a objective, nevertheless it’s not often simple to implement. The underlying techniques should not at all times aligned—and that limits what monetary expertise can ship.

What Interoperability Calls for in Observe

Constructing open finance in Latin America includes greater than opening entry to monetary information. Entry alone doesn’t assure usability or adoption. The techniques want to attach, and so they want to take action in a manner that customers and establishments can belief.

This consists of constant APIs, sure—but in addition authorized alignment, safety ensures, and clear relationships with regulators. These elements can’t be copied from one nation to a different with out changes. They’re formed by the institutional and social frameworks of every market.

The businesses main progress on this house are sometimes required to put money into groundwork that’s not instantly seen: constructing belief, standardizing definitions, and navigating parallel techniques that coexist inside the identical nation.

Perception from Ximena Aleman

Ximena Aleman has spent the final a number of years constructing infrastructure to deal with these very points. As Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Prometeo, a fintech firm centered on enabling open finance throughout Latin America, she has labored instantly with banks, regulators, and builders in markets with various ranges of maturity.

In our dialog, Aleman discusses how fragmentation throughout jurisdictions has modified her view of what open finance requires. For her, the core problem isn’t just about integrating techniques, however making a construction the place techniques can function along with reliability. That features technical components, but in addition requirements round transparency, compliance, and regional cooperation.

Aleman’s method displays the calls for of the area: interoperability as a long-term course of that balances innovation with institutional credibility.

Take pleasure in!

1. You’ve labored throughout a number of monetary ecosystems in Latin America. What infrastructure challenges have persistently surfaced throughout borders — and the way have these formed your understanding of what “open finance” actually requires in apply?

One of the vital persistent challenges throughout Latin American monetary ecosystems is fragmentation. Whereas the area is commonly handled as a single market, the fact is way extra complicated. Working throughout borders means contending with completely distinct techniques, every with its personal definitions, requirements, and tempo of adoption.

Even the idea of a monetary API can imply very various things relying on the nation. This complexity has reshaped how I perceive open finance. It’s not merely about offering entry to information or companies. It’s about creating the infrastructure that permits monetary techniques to interoperate reliably. That features enabling technical integration, but in addition making certain transparency, belief, and regulatory alignment throughout jurisdictions. Seen via this lens, open finance turns into greater than a coverage framework or product characteristic.

It turns into the inspiration for a borderless monetary expertise, the place people and establishments can transfer worth and entry companies with out friction. Reaching that degree of interoperability takes time, however it’s the form of long-term transformation that may unlock regional scale and resilience.

2. In areas the place interoperability remains to be evolving, how do you concentrate on the strain between velocity of innovation and the necessity for monetary resilience or regulatory readability?

ALT: In areas the place interoperability remains to be evolving, the strain between innovation and regulation is each actual and obligatory. On one hand, the tempo of technological developments creates urgency, particularly when monetary inclusion is at stake. On the opposite, stability and belief rely on clear frameworks, and people usually take time to materialize. What makes fintech notably fascinating is that regulation usually follows innovation, not the opposite manner round.

New applied sciences are inclined to surge first, and it’s ceaselessly the businesses constructing them that advocate for clear guidelines and push regulation ahead. In lots of instances, it’s the ecosystem itself that calls for oversight to make sure long-term belief, adoption, and security. In that sense, innovation doesn’t simply problem the system, it helps form it.

Essentially the most impactful options are these constructed with flexibility, that account for regulatory complexity, and that may evolve because the ecosystem matures. Innovation is simply significant when it earns belief and endures past the early momentum.

3. You’ve operated in environments the place casual economies coexist with formal banking techniques. What have these settings taught you about constructing instruments that mirror how folks truly transfer cash?

Working in Latin America means understanding that monetary conduct usually lives within the grey house between formal and casual techniques. Folks would possibly receives a commission in money, use WhatsApp to coordinate funds, or depend on casual networks for credit score, not as a result of they don’t need to use formal channels, however as a result of these channels haven’t been constructed round their realities.

That’s taught me that constructing monetary infrastructure is not nearly digitizing banking; it’s about designing for a way folks truly reside and transfer cash. If you need adoption, your instruments must be as intuitive and rapid because the casual practices they’re changing and ideally, provide extra transparency, management, and long-term advantages.

In these environments, the secret is to scale back the hole between how folks already handle cash and the way new techniques ask them to have interaction. If an answer doesn’t really feel rapid, dependable, and simple to make use of, it received’t change current habits, irrespective of how refined it’s. Adoption depends upon constructing with that actuality in thoughts.

4. In your cross-border expertise, what tends to be misunderstood or oversimplified when international observers speak about fintech in Latin America?

There’s usually this narrative that paints the area in broad strokes, “excessive unbanked populations”, “rising smartphone utilization”, and so forth. Whereas a few of that’s true, it misses the nuance of a  area that’s extremely various. What works in Mexico may not work in Chile. What features traction in Brazil might by no means land in Uruguay.

There’s additionally a misunderstanding of how a lot innovation is already occurring domestically. The chance isn’t just to usher in new technological options, however to leverage what’s already being constructed. World gamers usually underestimate the complexity of scaling throughout Latin America. Cross-border isn’t just a characteristic, it’s a problem that requires infrastructure, compliance experience, and a deep understanding of how monetary establishments work on each market. 

5. You’ve persistently advocated for women-led innovation. What structural points do you consider have essentially the most tangible influence on whether or not feminine founders can entry funding or scale merchandise within the area?

One of the vital tangible structural boundaries feminine founders face in Latin America is the shortage of illustration in capital allocation. Most funding selections are nonetheless made in rooms that don’t mirror the variety of the area and that hole instantly impacts who will get funded and the way threat is perceived.

There’s additionally a belief hole. Ladies are sometimes anticipated to “show it” in methods their male counterparts aren’t to indicate traction earlier, to mitigate extra variables, to have the proper deck and the proper supply. That creates an uneven beginning line earlier than the dialog even begins.

Lastly, we are able to’t ignore the invisible labor: many ladies are constructing corporations whereas additionally absorbing nearly all of caregiving duties. That actuality shapes how they method time, progress, and scale, and but, most assist techniques in tech don’t account for it.

If we wish extra ladies scaling merchandise and driving innovation, we have to fund in a different way, mentor with intention, and construct ecosystems that aren’t simply open to ladies however designed with their realities in thoughts.

6. For founders engaged on monetary entry in areas with complicated regulatory and infrastructure layers, what are essentially the most invaluable classes you’ve discovered about constructing momentum whereas navigating constraints?

One of the vital invaluable classes is that constraints aren’t simply obstacles, they’re sources of perception. In Latin America, we’ve needed to construct in environments the place regulation evolves slowly, infrastructure is uneven, and belief in monetary establishments is inconsistent. However those self same circumstances push you to be extra inventive, extra localized, and extra deliberate in the way you develop.

Momentum doesn’t at all times seem like hypergrowth, typically it’s about sequencing accurately. We discovered to maneuver quick in what we might management like product iteration and partnerships whereas staying affected person and strategic with what we couldn’t, like regulatory timelines. Constructing credibility with regulators and monetary establishments has been as essential as writing clear code.

One other key lesson: don’t assume scalability equals uniformity. What works in a single market might not translate instantly to a different. You want versatile infrastructure and a mindset that embraces distinction, not erases it.

And eventually, encompass your self with individuals who perceive the lengthy recreation. Constructing monetary entry in complicated areas isn’t nearly velocity, it’s about resilience, relationships, and a deep understanding of the ecosystem you’re attempting to rework.