The Brazilian financial technology company acquired a wealth management company last month and is positioning itself as one of the main full banking platforms, an alternative to traditional banks.
Its goal is to become the most comprehensive banking platform globally. To achieve this, it seeks to optimize processes, prevent fraud and facilitate integration with emerging technologies such as instant payment and artificial intelligence. We are talking about Topaz, a Brazilian financial technology company specialized in digital solutions for the banking sector in Latin America.
It currently belongs to the Stefanini Group and operates through the Topaz One platform, a full banking system that allows financial institutions to go digital and offer advanced banking services. The company also has a presence in 25 countries, has more than 300 clients and has served more than 550 million end consumers.
“Today, our goal is to have all the technologies that a financial institution or fintech needs to digitally transform. We have tools designed to improve onboarding , the customer acquisition experience, and even relationship channels,” explained Jorge Iglesias, CEO of Topaz, to AméricaEconomía .
Iglesias adds that while there are platforms that address these needs separately, there are not many players that have this number of solutions in an integrated manner. “Each institution and bank has a different maturity and therefore, different needs. The same can be said of the markets: Mexico is more digitalized; Brazil is taking off and Peru is increasingly advancing more and more with digitalization,” he says.
Despite this difference between the financial environments of each country, there are challenges that Topaz seeks to overcome: first, the modernization of user experience channels. In this case, the ultimate goal is to make them more modern in order to obtain a unique experience. The second is to have technology that allows new products to be launched quickly, a concept that Iglesias describes as Time to Market or responding to customer needs quickly.
Other points include transaction security, as well as interoperability and compatibility with external ecosystems. “The world is becoming more and more open. And for this reason, we must have an architecture and technologies that can effectively work with other ecosystems without losing the transaction or security and in a unique way,” says Iglesias.
A MATTER OF TRUST
Faced with the classic question that thousands of people share about whether a banking platform is more reliable than a traditional bank, the CEO of Topaz admits that it is a difficult question to answer, because it is a very broad market. Although he believes that there are possibilities for both banking actors, since for example, in Peru, banking is far from reaching the majority of citizens.
“There is a very strong market to develop, both for traditional banks and for more digital institutions. But as an example that we have today from other countries with better rates, although Brazil has already managed to have almost 80% of its population banked, this was not achieved by opening more branches in the provinces, but by expanding digital services and mobile device connectivity,” explains Iglesias.
At the regional level, one of the most widespread strategies for Topaz's expansion is the implementation of new fintechs . For example, Walmart, the American supermarket chain, hired Topaz to implement financial services for its stores in Mexico that allow customers who buy products and food to access a payment gateway, make transfers to the US, take out a loan, among other options.
Regarding the preferences of Latin American users of financial platforms, Iglesias acknowledges that their priority is to choose the services that are most appropriate for their time, as well as to invest in automation.
“More and more users are managing their financial life early in the morning or at night sitting on the couch watching television. So, we are increasingly discovering that end users, bank customers, want to have 24/7 availability of these services,” Iglesias said.
Among Topaz's most recent operations, the acquisition in September of 60% of Info Solutions stands out. This is a Brazilian company that specializes in the development of software for risk assessment, accounts receivable management, among other functions, where its main clients are asset managers.
“The main requirement we look for when we buy companies is complementarity. With the acquisition of Info Solution we are looking for a solution linked to the wealth management of multinationals or families. Banks usually perform this function, so we bought a company that has been dealing with the subject for more than 20 years, in Brazil, Latin America, Europe and the US,” adds Iglesias.
