In order to raise awareness of trends in digital commerce and understand how they impact consumer society, Guillermo Varela, president of the Chamber of the Digital Economy of Uruguay (CEDU), participated as moderator of the meeting of experts in the sector on the challenges and opportunities of Fintech and its impact on digital commerce.
This was a new edition of the Weekly Collaborative Digital Commerce Industry Magazine, led by the eCommerce Institute, which was also attended by Javier Buitrago, CEO Zinli.com, and Juan Carlos Martínez, CEO Bamboo Payment Systems and director of CEDU, who offered their perspectives on how these financial industries are accelerating the digital economy ecosystem, the impact they are having on banks and the effect of digital wallets, QR codes and bitcoin on the end consumer.
During the meeting, Varela stressed that the development of the digital economy has empowered the end user, who is no longer a hostage of the policies that define the value chain. He stressed that in this path of full expansion, the role of Fintech and the strengthening of digital payments are fundamental for the development of the digital ecosystem.
For his part, Martinez said that "Fintechs came to provide customer-focused solutions and to channel new forms of payment. They are the vehicle between a four-party business in which there is the issuer, the acquirer, the merchant and the customer. The role of Fintech is to dynamise the dialogue between these parties through a host of elements that seek to make life easier for the customer".
In the same vein, Buitrago mentioned that one of the milestones generated by this explosion of digitalisation was the reach of wallets, which became the main means of payment, even above credit and debit cards. Added to this was the global penetration of the QR code, with more than 1.5 billion people using this method.
The use of these new means of payment is due not only to a cultural issue, but also a generational one, Martínez acknowledged. He also explained that the adoption of digital wallets, QR codes and bitcoin also responds to an issue of practicality and seeks to satisfy a customer need.
As for the position of traditional financial institutions in the face of this new technological industry, and when asked by Varela whether the world is facing a financial revolution in which banks will cease to exist, the specialists agreed that the fate of these institutions will depend on the model they adopt, whether they decide to become leaders of the digital future and begin to operate with Fintech or otherwise continue with a traditional culture.
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