Where is the e-money revolution going?

In 2021, debit cards were used more for payments than for withdrawing cash from ATMs. It is a champion of how e-money is replacing banknotes. As technology transformation accelerated during the pandemic, businesses and brands were forced to interact with consumers in new ways as many spend more time online.

It’s a change of habit that has accelerated the growth of e-commerce and will continue that trend. It will address these challenges “The revolution of electronic money”, the dialogue organized by Clarin which will take place on Thursday and which will discuss how there are companies and banks working at the forefront of technology to find quick, safe, reliable and affordable solutions. It airs tomorrow at 7pm on Clarin.com and on YouTube. The contents will be shared simultaneously on social networks and subsequently on the website and on the paper edition of the newspaper.

In the panel “The future of banknote-free payments“CABA Innovation Secretary Diego Fernández will participate; Ignacio Plaza, President of the Fintech Chamber; Emiliano Porciani, Chief Business Officer of Prisma Medios de Pago, and Chief Product Officer of Naranja X, Santiago Sánchez.

The meeting will discuss how payment systems are becoming more and more sophisticated, and how the e-money revolution is a phenomenon here to stay with shared QR codes, virtual wallets, apps that bring together a variety of services and offers and direct transfers between people.

A World Bank study indicates that the 42% of adults in Latin America use digital payments in stores and 11% have adopted this payment format in the context of the pandemic. In Argentina, the percentage of adults who use digital payments in stores is 38%. Everything seems to indicate that banknotes will be used less and less.

“The e-money revolution” is part of the “The world to come” cycle, 12 talks between business executives, officials, social leaders, renowned experts and entrepreneurs, led by journalists from Clarione. These are meetings that seek to identify the keys to the future and to analyze the challenges that companies face today in the changing contemporary reality.

The cycle has main support from OSDE, Telecom and DESA, as well as sponsorship from Afarte, and support from Naranja X, Fiserv and Payway.

Fiserv analyzed that in the course of 2021 the growing abandonment of the use of cash for payment transactions was sanctioned with a strong growth of debit and credit cards and digital media such as virtual wallets and QR codes.

In a comparative study of the first and second semester of 2021, it was estimated that 7 out of 10 people have changed the way they shop and pay in the past 12 months. It is a trend that marks an abandonment of the use of cash. According to a survey by Minsait Payments, in 2021 50% of the population makes at least one purchase a month online and 25% buys online every day.

Banks are also analyzing these changes produced by digitization. Argentina is the Latin American country with the largest multi-card population, especially credit cards, and the 63% of the ABI population with credit card has more than one. Of those who use multiple credit cards, 57% do so for large purchases, while 39% do so for small purchases.

The use of virtual wallets in the banking population has also increased. According to data from Minsait Payments, more than half of Argentines have increased the use of this means of payment, especially with the use of mobile phones, through the static QR, passing from 34% to 54% in the last year.

Here is the agenda that the speakers will talk about:

• Diego Fernandez. Innovation Secretary of the Municipality. After years of involvement in the private sector, he began his career in politics by co-creating the G25, an organization to build bridges between the private world and public management. In 2010 he joined the Education team in the Buenos Aires city government. He was Secretary for Social and Urban Integration and developed the integration process of Barrio 31. Today, also in the city of Buenos Aires, he leads the Secretariat for Innovation and Digital Transformation, working to create new technological solutions and to ensure Buenos Aires is among the most innovative cities in the world.

• Ignazio Square. President of the Argentine Chamber of Fintech. Pioneer engineer in the art of combining technology with the needs of the financial sector. He has more than 27 years of experience in the fintech sector, in the capital market and in the venture capital sector in Argentina. He created Primary Ventures to support early stage technology companies. He is an angel investor, co-founder and managing partner of Draper Cygnus VC (Venture Capital). He is also a member of the board of directors of MaTbarofex and a founding partner of the local fintech chamber.

• Emiliano Porcini. Chief Business Officer of Prisma Means of payment. With experience in business management. He worked in Telco Móviles and Banca. He worked at Banco Galicia and Telecom Personal, being one of the key players in the digital transformation of the business and leading innovation in the development of the segment strategy. Since 2019 he is Leader of the Tribe of Retail Segments.

• Santiago Sanchez. Chief Product Officer of Naranja X. UXer and passionate about technology products that impact people’s lives, he has more than ten years of career in technology and digital product design. He served as UX Manager for the Mercado Pago business, developing an ecosystem of financial products and services.