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The Three Most Disruptive Banking Initiatives in Latin America in 2023

Published by Fintech Americas on Jun 6, 2023

Meet the winners of the Disrupt Awards during the 8th edition of the Financial Innovators of the Americas Awards.

In Latin America, innovation never stops. It is a vital force that moves and defines us. We are passionate about using creativity to overcome obstacles with the resources available to us, always striving to create positive impact.

At Fintech Americas, we understand the critical role innovation plays in the development of the financial industry. That is why, for the past eight years, we have celebrated it through the Financial Innovators of the Americas Awards — an initiative that recognizes the most disruptive leaders, teams, and institutions breaking barriers, challenging established norms, and delivering revolutionary financial solutions.

The awards ceremony took place on May 4 during . It was one of the most exciting moments of the event because, among the previously announced Country Awards winners, the three highest-scoring projects overall — regardless of country — were revealed as the recipients of the Disrupt Awards.

The Disrupt Awards are the highest recognition for the boldest financial innovations in Latin America. The winners of the 2023 Disrupt Awards were:

  • Banco Azteca (Platinum Award)
  • Bancolombia (Gold Award)
  • Mibanco (Silver Award)

The initiatives led by these organizations are extremely important because they demonstrate how innovation can be used to build a more efficient, faster, and inclusive financial ecosystem in Latin America. These projects reflect the region’s ability to adapt continuously to change and remain at the forefront of innovation.

Get ready to learn more about these initiatives, why they won, and the direct impact they are having on the lives of millions of people across Latin America.

2023 Disrupt Platinum Award: Humberto San Juan Sosa, Foreign Exchange Director at Banco Azteca (Mexico)

Category: Blockchain

Banco Azteca won the Platinum Award for its project “Retail Foreign Exchange Transaction Traceability,” an initiative designed to ensure integrity, immutability, and certainty in financial transaction data.

Using Blockchain technology, the bank traces and integrates all processes associated with these transactions — from teller operations, customer information, regulatory compliance, anti-money laundering controls, digitization, back office and treasury functions, to exports.

In Mexico, the foreign exchange business generates large accumulations of cash (more purchases than sales), requiring funds to be repatriated. This makes the industry highly regulated and subject to strict international guidelines established by foreign correspondent banks and central banks.

To address this challenge, Banco Azteca developed an operational and management platform that allows every transaction to be created with a unique hash (digital genesis), capable of identifying the entire lifecycle of the cash movement — from the moment it originates at any of the bank’s more than 7,700 teller locations across Mexico to the electronic settlement of exported cash shipments.

This process guarantees:

  • data integrity;
  • legitimate origin of funds;
  • anti-money laundering compliance;
  • regulatory compliance;
  • maintenance of relationships with foreign correspondent banks.

At the same time, the project increased operational efficiency by reducing costs and accelerating settlement and reporting processes for cash shipments. The administrative effort required by correspondent banks to approve shipments was also reduced because the technology provides greater certainty regarding transaction data.

Banco Azteca’s initiative represented a major leap forward in the implementation of Blockchain and Big Data technologies to modernize daily banking operations — one of the key reasons it received the region’s highest innovation award.

2023 Disrupt Gold Award: Santiago Ceballos Aristizabal, Frictionless Payments Director at Bancolombia (Colombia)

Category: Financial Inclusion

Bancolombia received the Gold Award for the project “Democratizing Digital Payment Methods for Small Businesses in Colombia.”

In Colombia, many microbusinesses depend heavily on cash payments because traditional payment systems such as point-of-sale terminals are too expensive or because many merchants operate informally and do not have access to bank accounts.

As a result:

  • many small merchants lose sales when customers do not carry cash;
  • merchants struggle with providing change;
  • these business owners often lack access to credit.

Bancolombia’s solution was to offer an alternative payment method through QR codes that is secure, accessible, convenient, and easy to use. Merchants simply need a printed QR code image to begin accepting digital payments.

The impact has been significant:

  • the initiative helped reduce Colombia’s dependence on cash from 90% in 2018 to 75% in 2021;
  • it became a major driver of financial inclusion.

In addition, transactional data allows the bank to better understand these customers, enabling Bancolombia to offer tailored credit products that help merchants grow their businesses and improve their quality of life.

2023 Disrupt Silver Award: José Miguel de la Peña, Tribe Leader of Segments and Products at Mibanco (Peru)

Category: Financial Inclusion

Mibanco received the Silver Award for its “Crédito Mujer” initiative, a financial product designed to empower women in Peru by improving access to credit.

The solution addresses financial exclusion faced by married women in Peru, where banks traditionally required a husband’s approval before granting loans — a practice that often contributed to financial control and gender-based violence.

To create Crédito Mujer, Mibanco challenged two long-standing banking policies in Peru:

  • Secondary household income generated by wives was traditionally not considered independent income eligible for credit approval. Mibanco instead recognized women’s income contributions within the household economy.
  • The bank changed its risk policies to treat married women as financially independent applicants, eliminating the husband’s signature as a mandatory loan requirement.

The initiative was designed for women seeking financing to expand their businesses and achieve greater economic independence.

Today:

  • 20% of Crédito Mujer customers are independent entrepreneurs, primarily operating informally;
  • 80% are owners of small businesses.

Mibanco has significantly expanded financial inclusion for women, enabling them to grow their businesses and improve economic well-being for their families.

Crédito Mujer became the first loan product in Peru specifically designed to increase women’s participation in the financial system. Today, 30% of women who obtained a loan for the first time in Peru did so through Crédito Mujer.

Do you have an initiative to nominate? Your organization could become the next winner of the Financial Innovators of the Americas Awards.

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