At the end of my stay at BC (Central Bank), I received a simple but powerful video. He was a resident of Tartarugalzinho, a town of 15,000 inhabitants in the interior of Amapá. She shared how Pix transformed the lives of the community. Without a bank branch, the local economy, previously stifled by distance and lack of financial services, was thriving again. The entire city’s commerce was already running on Pix.
This is not an isolated case. In recent years, Brazil has experienced a profound transformation of the financial system. British Columbia’s innovation agenda – structured around four pillars: Pix, Monetary Internationalization, Open Finance and Drex – has sparked the largest financial inclusion movement in our history.
The agenda was designed along four dimensions: competition, inclusion, innovation and sustainability.
In terms of competitiveness, the objective was to reduce barriers to entry, encourage new participants and reduce the cost of credit. Bank concentration indicators – such as Lerner and Herfindahl-Hirschman – show a steady decline. The share of the largest establishments (S1 and S2 classification) in the credit portfolio of the SFN (National Financial System) increased from 88% in 2017 to 73% in 2024. In credit cards, the share of the four largest increased from 79% in 2019 to 57% in 2024. This deconcentration made it possible to reduce the cost of credit: by comparing the periods at Selic similar, the bank spread fell to minus 15%.
Inclusion has always been another pillar. Technology was seen as the most powerful tool to democratize access. From 2019 to 2025, the number of active DFS customers more than doubled, from 81 million to 163 million. Among legal entities, the jump went from 3.5 million to 13.7 million. This is the largest round of financial inclusion in our history.
Innovation has gained momentum. Open finance, by allowing consented and secure sharing of data, reduces information asymmetries, opens the market and places the customer at the center of the process. This generates new business models and personalized services. According to a British Columbia study, 139 use cases from open finance were developed in the second half of 2024 alone, and over the past year, use of the infrastructure has more than doubled. Several Pix features depend on this connectivity.
Sustainability has become another relevant focus. It was integrated into the agenda to increase financing for green businesses, modernize the management of social, environmental and climate risks and strengthen the role of the SFN in sustainable development. British Columbia has received awards – such as Central Bank of the Year, in 2024 – with mentions on this agenda and is at the top of international rankings, such as that of the SBFN/IFC.
Banks and fintechs have acted in a complementary manner in this revolution, but fintechs have played a crucial role. They have been catalysts for competition, innovation and expansion of financial services. Since 2018, around 46 million people have been integrated into the financial system. Nubank has collected 28 million by 2024. From 2022 to 2025, the growth of fintechs was almost three times that of the big banks.
Fintechs have also expanded access to products. Today, 58% of Brazilians say they have access to services that were previously unavailable. For small businesses, they have become a relevant source of credit. And they overcame the geographical barrier: almost half of Brazilian municipalities do not have a bank branch, but the 100% digital model has eliminated distance as an obstacle.
Fintechs have also transformed the competition, increasing their participation in different segments. In the credit card space, they represent about a quarter of the market. Nubank alone has enabled 28 million Brazilians to get their first card.
Another decisive impact was the reduction of costs and improvement of the user experience. An IMF study shows that increased competition brought by fintechs has reduced interest rates by 2.9 percentage points. Customer satisfaction confirms this: 64% approve of the amounts billed by these establishments. At Reclame Aqui, the fintech scores are higher, in line with more recent models and more digitalized processes.
Finally, security. The recent debate on fraud has generated erroneous perceptions. The numbers show the opposite. Pix is one of the safest systems in the world: there are approximately 7 frauds per 100,000 transactions. In the case of credit cards, there are 30. In the equivalent system in the United Kingdom, Faster Payments, there are around 100. In credit operations, irregularities in large banks reach 3.1 per million customers; in fintechs, only 0.7.
The federal police’s Operation Hidden Carbon identified two fintechs linked to the financial operations of organized crime, representing less than 0.2% of the country’s universe of 1,728 fintechs, according to ABFintechs. Among the investment funds, at least 40 have been cited.
We are on the threshold of an even greater transformation: the migration towards a symbolic economy. The next step will come from the convergence of open finance, tokenization, money programmability and artificial intelligence. This integration will enable faster and more personalized services, seamless use of collateral, automated payments and investments, and real-time risk management. The result will be a more competitive, efficient and inclusive financial system.
Banks and fintechs will have complementary roles in this new chapter. The diversity of models strengthens the system and expands alternatives for consumers and businesses. A more modern, open and integrated market reduces costs, expands opportunities and improves the lives of millions of Brazilians.
This transformation is not only technological: it is social. This creates the conditions for a more dynamic, productive and just country. It is a change that benefits the whole of society, especially the poorest. Brazil has already shown that it can lead this journey. It is essential to ensure that this progress continues, with stability for the system and security for users.
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