Open Finance: Lessons from Brazil
Webinar
More and more countries are implementing open finance, a multilateral and open data-sharing regime that enables all parties that meet defined requirements to exchange data, including customer data. The policy motivations for open finance range from increasing competition in concentrated financial markets by allowing new entrants to engage with consumers and their financial data more easily; to encouraging product innovation through better consumer data and enabling payment initiation; to deepening financial access and inclusion for consumers.
Brazil’s rapid expansion of open finance shows its potential to transform financial services. Less than two years after its launch, Brazil’s open finance ecosystem reported over 27 million customers with 41 million accounts participating as of September 2023. This early success and sharp uptake can be attributed to enabling factors such as the implementation of the interoperable, fast payments system (Pix), and a vibrant fintech market (e.g., Mercado Pago, PicPay, NuBank). CGAP recently conducted research on the implementation of open finance in Brazil. This study conducted customer research in July 2023 with a nationally representative sample of 2000 respondents which offers valuable insights for Brazil as well as other markets interested in implementing open finance.
In this webinar, the authors will present the main findings from this research as well as provide a background of Brazil’s journey of implementing Open Finance from a regulator and financial services provider perspective. Following the presentation, there will be a moderated panel discussion with panelists who represent different stakeholders within Brazil’s Open Finance ecosystem including public and private sector actors.
Presenters
Maria Fernandez Vidal is a Senior Financial Sector Specialist, leading CGAP’s work on Data. Her work is focused on the role data can play in advancing financial inclusion and covers a range of topics including data-driven business models and open finance. She has also worked substantially with fintechs, platforms and advanced analytics. Before joining CGAP, Maria was at McKinsey & Company, working in Latin America & the Caribbean and the US. At McKinsey, she served clients in the financial sector and the public and social sector on a broad range of topics including strategy, risk, operations and organization. Maria previously worked at the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Endeavor.
Maria holds an MBA from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania with majors in strategic management and finance, and graduate and undergraduate degrees in economics from the Universidad Torcuato Di Tella.
Ivo Jeník currently leads CGAP’s work on regulatory architecture at the frontier, inclusive data ecosystems (open finance), and microfinance digitization. Previously he led work on regulatory innovation (crowdfunding, regulatory sandboxes), capacity building for policy makers (regulation and supervision of digital financial services) and emerging business models in banking across continents.
Ivo’s core expertise is in policy. Before joining CGAP, he worked in the Responsible Financial Access team at the World Bank, where he specialized in financial consumer protection and alternative dispute resolution. His professional experience spans across both the private and public sector, including serving as a compliance officer at an investment company and as Head of the Collective Investment Department at the Czech Financial Ombudsman.
Ivo has a Master’s degree in Law from Columbia Law School in New York and a Master’s degree in Law from Charles University in Prague.
Arisha Salman is a Financial Sector Specialist with CGAP’s Finance for Inclusive Development outcome area. Her work is focused on unlocking how Data can enhance the value of financial services for low-income and underserved individuals with a focus on the development, implementation, and scale-up of Open Finance frameworks as well as on closing gender gaps at the country level. Arisha was also a member of the team that developed the Strategy for CGAP VII. She previously supported CGAP’s work on Digital Business Models with a focus on Inclusive Digital Banking and the Digital Divide.
Before joining CGAP, Arisha worked for over five years on digital financial inclusion, SME development and gender mainstreaming in South and Southeast Asia. She has held positions as a Management Consultant with the Financial Services Practice at PricewaterhouseCoopers and with the Gender Equity Thematic Group at the Asian Development Bank. Arisha holds a master's degree in public administration from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs and an undergraduate degree in Economics from the University of Delhi. She is fluent in Hindi and Urdu.
Panelists
Matheus Rauber is a Senior Advisor at the Financial System Regulation Department of Banco Central do Brasil. He has vast experience in regulatory affairs. He has been part of the team that regulated fintechs and regulatory sandboxes, and, currently, works with the team responsible for coordinating the implementation of Open Finance in Brazil.
Luana Soratto is the Head of Product at PicPay, leading the implementation of Open Finance use cases. She is also the Coordinator of the Open Finance Committee at ABFintechs, representing Fintechs in the market. Luana has previously coordinated the User Experience Working Group (GT UX) for two years at the Brazil Central Bank Open Finance Convention. She graduated in Mechanical Production Engineering from the Federal University of Santa Catarina and is currently pursuing a Digital Business MBA at USP Esalq.
Gustavo Bresler is Chief Operating Officer of Iniciador, a white label technology platform for payment initiation and Open Finance data in Brazil, and a consultant on Open Finance for CGAP. He has 14 years of experience in emerging technologies, fintech and venture capital, with a focus on Open Finance for the last 4 years. His work on Open Finance encompasses coordinating Central Bank Working Groups and developing new products and business models for Payment Initiators (PISPs).
Paulo Barbosa has 13 years of experience in the financial sector. He has been working at Itaú Unibanco for three years, where he leads work focused on regulatory developments in Open Finance, Assets, and Credit. He also plays a coordination role with Working Groups on the topics of Pix, Digital Identity, and Open Finance and has previously worked at Citibank and Febraban on projects related to Trade Services, Guarantees, Blockchain, Data Protection (LGPD), and Cybersecurity, in. He has a degree in Computer Engineering and an MBA in Business Management, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship.