>In this case, the result is: on the one hand, half of the population has no bank accounts, and the penetration rate of credit cards is only a quarter; on the other hand, bank fees are numerous and almost all of the clients are rich.
Since the Argentine banking crisis in 2001, the distrust of banks has not changed until the mobile Internet broke into thousands of households.
After Latin American e-commerce giants Mercado Libre, streaming media services Spotify and Netflix entered Argentina one after another, the demand for electronic payments has increased dramatically, and the inconvenience of cash has become more prominent. Barbieri thought, if the traditional banking system is difficult to shake, why not consider using technology to make a financial product that everyone can use?
In October 2017, Ualá was born. It has no economic threshold requirements for users: as long as you register and submit personal information on the App interface, you can receive this prepaid card within three days. After you recharge the card, it can be used for transfer, payment and shopping. All transaction records are clear in the App. If the card is lost, it can be locked with one key. With Ualá service, everything can be done in the App, and there are no transaction fees, management fees or minimum deposits-everything is completely free.
Because of the free and innovative service, at the end of 2017, in less than three months, Ualá issued more than 35,000 cards, and by 2018, more than 140,000 cards, and the latest number is more than 2 million cards. Argentina has a population of only 45 million, which shows that Ualá user penetration is close to 5%. If you take smartphone users as the base, Ualá’s penetration rate is close to 10%.
China’s appearance 7 years ago
At the end of 2019, Barbieri announced on his personal Twitter that Ualá had received a joint investment of US$150 million from Tencent and SoftBank. To this day, he still tops this tweet.
In February 2020, the new crown epidemic was first detected in China, while the outbreak in Latin America only began in April. In the two-month time difference, Tencent’s observation of changes in consumption patterns also provided Ualá with experience.
In early 2020, Ualá plans to launch loans on a large scale. However, based on Tencent’s recommendation, Ualá decided to introduce installment loans first, which means that a single loan is smaller. At the beginning of April, when the new crown epidemic began to erupt in Argentina, Maia found that with the national blockade, travel and international consumption quickly declined, and users’ consumption budgets have also changed. Instalment loans with smaller amounts are more suitable for users during this period. demand.
In fact, the epidemic has pushed Ualá forward. The most obvious change is the 40% increase in the amount of utilities paid by Ualá. At the same time, because there is no need to face each other below the line, the number of people applying for Ualá cards is also increasing. Card recharge can be done either by transferring money from someone else’s account, or through Argentina’s local bill payment network RapiPago and PagoFácil.
“Social Enterprise” with over 100 million U.S. dollars
“We are not profitable now, and will not be profitable for a long time in the future. We want to create a new concept of financial institutions.” Barbieri has said many times.
Ualá looks more like a social enterprise than a non-bank financial institution whose goal is profit.
The founder has repeatedly emphasized that Ualá’s vision is to popularize financial services in Argentina, that is, “make financial services available to people without bank accounts”, and establish a new concept of digital financial institutions.
“What we are trying to do is democratize financial services.” Barbieri said in an interview with The Bubble, “Before, people thought that a bank was a physical place… Now, we no longer need Go to the bank for business, endure the trouble of forms and queuing. On the mobile phone, we can operate any transaction, and the process is transparent.”
In an interview with Zhixiang.com, Maia also stated many times that Ualá does not consider profitability at present and in the future, nor does it consider expanding to other countries. She said, “We focus on bringing financial inclusion to Argentina”ss=”text-img-note”>Ualá’s office in Buenos Aires/Ualá
In fact, while gaining users’ love, Ualá is also promoting changes in Argentina’s overall financial system. In the past three years, in addition to Ualá, digital banks WiloBank, Brubank and Rebanking were born, and the multinational digital wallet Mercado Pago also entered Argentina. These institutions all aim for a good customer experience and financial inclusion, and are also releasing various preferential subsidies to attract users.
But Maia is very confident in Ualá. On the one hand, Ualá attaches great importance to technical investment. Among 400 employees, about 260 are in technical positions, which is convenient for rapid iteration and product update. On the other hand, Ualá paid great attention to user experience from the beginning. Furthermore, the CEO himself responds to users’ complaint emails every day. When users encounter problems, they often use @Ualá on social media, and they will receive a reply soon.
When a user applies for a Ualá card, their card will be sent with a letter from the CEO and the CEO’s personal email address will be attached at the end. “People have never seen a bank CEO like this. Many people write emails to complain about Ualá, and he will reply.” Maia said.
As Maia said, the practice of these technology companies was once unimaginable in the traditional banks of Argentina. But changes are indeed happening: under the power of technology, the traditional financial system is being shaken little by little, replaced by a more transparent, more choice, and financial society that everyone can participate in.
A letter sent to the user with the CEO’s personal email address /Ualá