The Digital Payments Segment Grew 29% in Colombia in the First Half of 2021

Payment gateways are digital platforms that enable merchants to receive online transactions securely. Driven by the pandemic, this system became the only option to obtain goods and services in 2020 and today.

In Colombia, these payment bridges increased their transactions by 64% in 2020, and a growth of 29% in the first half of 2021 compared to the same period of the previous year, according to data provided by the Colombian Chamber of Electronic Commerce. All this is linked to the process of bankarization with an offer of financial services through means of payment with open accounts. There are also other types of services, such as loans on online platforms that can be produced without the need for the traditional banking system and thus with this convenience begin to attract new customers.

With the technological adaptation that companies and microenterprises around the world are developing, digital loans are increasingly present.

Find more about the fintech sector in Colombia and read the latest business headlines with our companion app Born2Invest.

Within the industry there are nine subcategories that are divided into different types of services:

Payment methods and electronic channels: Payment platforms, electronic commerce and international transfers.

Infrastructure for financial institutions: Customer control and profiling, fraud prevention, identity verification, business intelligence, cybersecurity.

Digital credits: Companies that offer credits in electronic platforms.

Financial solutions for companies: Software for billing accounting.

Personal finance and wealth management: Personal finance management, financial education, automated advisors and financial planning.

Trading and markets: Crowdfunding, and crypto assets.

Blockchain: Intermediaries and digital asset markets.

Following data provided by the analytics and prevention company Riskified, Latin America is one of the regions where cyber fraud is on the rise: on average: 8% of transactions are canceled due to suspicions of fraud, which is double the European average. For a payment gateway to be reliable, it must have PCI DSS certification, a regulation that accredits the security standard of the main card issuers.

The president of Colombia Fintech, Erick Rincón, assures that the gateways are regulated by Circular 008 of 2018 of the Financial Superintendency, where it dictates the security requirements for their operation and that in the last year and a half they have grown exuberantly, like the industry. The boom they present is still not enough, as there are still challenges to meet: “A tax withholding regime that generates a cost for businesses that impacts cash flow, the 4 per 1000 tax and informality, among others. It is estimated that in Colombia there are about 140 gateways”, he concluded.

On the other hand, Openpay is one of the e-commerce players in Latin America with more than 5 years of processing payments in Mexico virtually, the payment gateway subsidiary of BBVA Group started in Colombia in 2020 with solutions for transactions in online stores, subscription payments, marketplaces, crowdfunding and also online loan payments, among others.

The entity that also developed its Wopi gateway was Bancolombia, which it has taken to Central American countries, places where it has more presence and support. On the other hand, in the market, there are also names such as Pago Seguros, PlacetoPay and Tu Pago, and other entities that perform the same services.

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(Featured image by JoshuaWoroniecki via Pixabay)

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First published in ENTER.CO, a third-party contributor translated and adapted the article from the original. In case of discrepancy, the original will prevail.

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