EBANX: Digital Issuers Drive Card Growth in Latin America
Digital-first financial institutions have become central drivers of credit cards' market position in Latin America's emerging economies.
According to internal data from EBANX, a global Payment Service Provider that processes transactions for nearly 70% of Brazil's credit cardholders, fintech companies now account for 41% of the total value transacted through credit cards for online purchases in Brazil.
This trend is gaining momentum in other Latin American nations, with digital issuers representing 21% of credit card transaction value in Colombia and 19% in Argentina.
These figures coincide with digital banking expansion and increased fintech activity pushing card issuance in these markets.
“This indicates how fast adoption of alternative payment channels by consumers in emerging countries is influencing the credit card industry,” says João Del Valle, CEO and Co-founder of EBANX.
“E-wallets and real-time payments like Pix in Brazil and PSE in Colombia have raised standards and driven innovation across all segments, including credit cards.
“These digital solutions have pushed traditional payment methods to evolve to meet modern consumer expectations.”
Fintechs Transform Credit Card Landscape
Fintech contributions to the credit card market include user-centric platforms, reward programmes, and streamlined customer experiences that have changed how consumers interact with card payments.
These institutions now match the reach of major traditional banks in markets such as Brazil.
In Brazil, Latin America's largest economy, the fintech user base expanded from 25 million individuals to 100 million in three years, according to the Central Bank of Brazil.
Four in ten of these users hold credit cards, a group that has tripled in size since 2019, led by digital players.
One result of this shift is growth in credit card usage in e-commerce across emerging markets, with EBANX projecting annual growth of 13% through 2027 in its latest Beyond Borders study, which examines digital market and payment trends in emerging economies.
Incumbents Respond with Innovation
“In today's payments landscape, the focus isn't on opposing Pix or e-wallets to cards or choosing between traditional and new payment methods"
Traditional banks have followed fintech companies by investing in technologies to enhance online purchasing experiences.
Consumers benefit from more efficient checkout systems, such as click-to-pay technology, which reduces steps needed to complete transactions.
Network tokenisation has emerged as another significant development. This security process replaces sensitive card data with encrypted identifiers for each transaction, reducing fraud risk without affecting approval rates.
The technology also decreases fraud-related transaction declines and improves transaction quality. In EBANX tests conducted in Brazil, network tokens reduced card security-related transaction declines by more than 86%.
The technology increased overall approval rates by up to 7 percentage points for online retail merchants and up to 5 percentage points for subscription-based merchants.
“In today's payments landscape, the focus isn't on opposing Pix or e-wallets to cards or choosing between traditional and new payment methods,” explains João.
“It's about expanding opportunities and creating an ecosystem where different payment solutions can coexist and complement each other, providing consumers with more choices and better experiences in their digital transactions.”
Debit Cards Create Entry Points
“[Credit card] share will likely decrease in some key economies from emerging markets such as Brazil and Colombia, as alternative payment methods mature in these countries”
While credit cards account for approximately 80% of online purchases in emerging markets according to Payments and Commerce Market Intelligence data cited in the Beyond Borders report, debit cards have become important for attracting new online customers in countries including Peru, Mexico and South Africa.
In markets where access to credit remains limited, financial inclusion has increased debit card usage, bringing new consumers into e-commerce.
Peru exemplifies this pattern, where 60% of first-time online shoppers use debit cards, according to EBANX internal data. In Mexico, this figure reaches 55%.
In these two countries, debit cards account for a larger share of online transaction volume than credit cards—49% compared to 27% in Peru and 38% versus 31% in Mexico.
“This share will likely decrease in some key economies from emerging markets such as Brazil and Colombia, as alternative payment methods mature in these countries,” notes João.
In Brazil, where Pix—the instant payment system introduced by the Central Bank—holds 40% of online sales volume, debit cards now account for only 1% of digital commerce transaction value.
EBANX, founded in 2012 in Brazil, operates as a payments platform connecting global businesses to emerging digital markets.
The company enables global companies to offer local payment methods across Latin America, Africa and Asia.
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