While the number of credit cards among Mexicans fell last year, Mercado Libre provided around 4.5 million lines of credit to its clients through its financial arm, focused on small businesses, entrepreneurs and recently through personal loans.
In accordance with Jonathan Sarmina, director of Credit Market, currently have 8 million users with the possibility of accessing financing through their platform, of which around 1.5 million do so on a recurring basis.
In an interview with Forbes Mexico, the manager pointed out that throughout Latin America they have placed around 576 million dollars in financing among their users.
Lee: Faced with rising prices and inflation, this has been done by Bimbo, FEMSA, Alsea, Herdez
“We have had a very good acceptance, on the one hand, due to the high demand and need for financing, first from entrepreneurs, but also from consumers, who has led us to finance more than 100,000 entrepreneurs, small and medium-sized companies, with an average loan of around 125 thousand pesos for financing ”.
While the history of credit cards in the pandemic is different, since in February 2020 there were 29 million 168,251 plastics scattered by banks, however, for the same month this year the figure dropped to 27 million 499,172, which which represents 1 million 669,079 less, according to data from the National Banking and Securities Commission (CNBV).
Jonathan Sarmina specified that in the case of consumer loans, currently more than 8 million users have a line offered, which can be used throughout the ecosystem in Mercado Libre, Mercado Pago and recently outside their ecosystem.
“We launched what we call personal loans, which basically these more than 8 million users who have an enabled line of consumption, can now request that amount from us to be able to withdraw it and use it in what suits them best.”
For Sarmina this marks a differentiator, because its financing line works like a virtual credit card, withdraw up to 30 thousand pesos and use it where it best suits them.
“Let’s take into account that in a normal year, not a typical year like the pandemic, between 1.3 and 1.5 million cards are placed. Last year alone we offered almost 4.5 million lines that were added and that we reached these 8 million, so that speaks of the appetite we have towards the financial inclusion of users ”, he added.
He commented that although in the credit part the traditional financial system had a contraction in terms of supply, they were more aggressive, because they are convinced that one of the ways that add more to the economic reactivation is to inject cash flow, first to entrepreneurs, but also consumers. That is why he said, they have been very aggressive about the offer.
And it is that, he stressed, they see a trend of growth in demand for financing and this trend has not stopped, since last year in the pandemic, in addition to the fact that many of its users are not banked and have accompanied them in this process.
“We are the most robust Fintech at the Latam level, where you will find all your services concentrated in a single solution, you as an entrepreneur can have payments with QR, but also you as a buyer do not need to have cash, with your only cell phone and the App from Mercado Pago to be paying at gas stations, making your grocery store, paying at restaurants ”, he explained.
Subscribe to Forbes Mexico