A White paper published in 2018 reveals that just 5 years ago, digital payments in Latin America were still an emerging phenomenon and user uptake of contactless mobile wallets was minimal. At the time, more than half of Latin American consumers were underbanked. ?Fast-forward to a post-pandemic landscape and the region has witnessed tremendous change in how payments are managed and processed.

The World Economic Forum reports that by 2022, 85% of Brazilians had access to financial services. In such a dynamic, forward-looking landscape, the future for payment service providers offers fertile ground for growth.

SiGMA’s Maria Debrincat recently sat down with Raoul Mehta, General Manager Latin America at Zimpler for an interview during SiGMA Brazil 2023 Summit to discuss the state of digital payments in Brazil and Zimpler’s recent expansion to the region. Zimpler is a Swedish mobile payment company that enables customers to make payments with their mobile phones without the need of credit/debit cards.

Talking about Zimpler’s recent expansion to Brazil, Mehta says that “from a business strategy standpoint, it makes sense for us to move in here now when there’s local regulations coming in. That’s where we can really add value to gambling operators. [We bring] our know-how, expertise and experience we have from working in regulated markets in Europe. ?…. We can [place] ourselves to be in a good position to get a good market share once the regulations are here”.

Navigating regulatory hurdles

Mehta gives a word of advice to any business thinking of expanding their reach to the region, “you have to be very humble about the fact that you’re not from Brazil [and] have very close contact with partners such as lawyers and people that have their ear to the ground who understand what’s happening”.

Having close ties with local partners allows Zimpler to ?help businesses contend with issues related to anti-money laundering (AML) and KYC (know your customer) as markets become regulated.

Digital payments: Improving end-user experience

Zimpler’s market analysis in Brazil has revealed that there is a lack of attention given to the customer or end-user journey, be it a new customer registering and making a first deposit on a gambling site, or a customer at a grocery store. Zimpler’s market analysis revealed an average of 16 different steps needed from account creation to actual play. Talking of his experience, Mehta recounts a 10-15 minute timeframe to pay for a pair of jeans. He adds that the concept in Europe was not dissimilar until the introduction of the pay and play concept.

What Zimpler wants to achieve is to improve end-user experience and enable merchants to be compliant with any future regulatory requirements.

Watch the whole interview here.

SiGMA Americas is coming to Brazil

SiGMA Americas is coming to S?o Paolo, Brazil in June 2024. Watch the official after-movie here?to get a feel of what went down at the SiGMA Americas iGaming summit in Brazil 2023.