Peru also became one of its most promising markets, adding more than 200,000 users last year.
Six years after its initial launch, Global66, the Chilean fintech specializing in international remittance transfers, closed out a 2024 characterized by the consolidation of strategic routes. Since 2018, the company has offered a global account with several financial services aimed at Latin Americans. In addition to international money transfers to bank accounts, the fintech offers currency conversion, payment links, and Mastercard prepaid cards.
Global66 currently operates in seven countries: Chile, Colombia, Peru, Mexico, Argentina, Ecuador, and the United States. It also enables money transfers to more than 80 countries and has positioned itself as one of the leading remittance fintechs in Latin America.
It's worth noting that Peru has become one of its most promising markets, adding more than 200,000 users by 2024. Furthermore, the fintech company circulated more than US$215 million in transactions in the Andean country and achieved year-over-year growth of 140% in the same year. Meanwhile, at the regional level, Global66 managed to circulate around US$2.5 trillion.
AN EVOLUTION TO A NEOBANK?
Recently, Rodrigo Lama, Chief Business Officer (CBO) of Global66, expressed that the company's next goal is to become an emerging neobank in the region. The strategy is aligned with continuing to build a "global account" to make life easier for users and businesses within the financial sector.
For María José Artacho, Country Manager of Global66 in Peru , there are key factors to consider regarding this vision. “We want to offer an ecosystem of financial products that meet all the needs of global citizens. Today, we offer four or five products and services. However, to become a neobank, all of these products and features must be expanded,” Artacho told AméricaEconomía .
Recently, the fintech company experienced the migration of 95% of its users from the web version to the mobile app. Artacho says the team decided to persuade them to make this change because web-based customers are more likely to fall for phishing scams . The goal, therefore, was to reduce their likelihood of cyberattacks.
"It's been a constant effort to educate our clients financially, and because of this, we've raised awareness so that they're less exposed to the app. Internally, it helps us focus more on a single platform and optimize it, rather than diluting our efforts across two," the Country Manager adds.
ACADEMIC EXPENSES AND INVESTMENTS IN BROKERS
A striking figure that opened the year for Global66 revealed that money transfer transactions from Peru to Spain increased by more than 105% year-over-year during 2024. According to Artacho, the key factor driving this growth was the route's role in financing studies, family support, and savings.
As the migration of young Peruvians to Europe for undergraduate and graduate studies has increased in the years following the pandemic, they and their parents identify Global66 as a viable bridge for sending money.
“Furthermore, the Spanish government launched a visa for digital nomads. This also encouraged many freelancers or people who have the option of working in Peru but living in Spain to do so formally. So they also benefited from our platform to manage and handle their funds more conveniently,” he added.
Another international remittance route that grew considerably for similar reasons was the Colombia-United States route. In this case, however, the increase in investments in North American brokers , both for sending the money and for withdrawing the earnings, was compounded by the increase in remittances sent to students. Furthermore, while all remittance routes to Venezuela are blocked due to legal disputes, Artacho does not rule out the possibility of resuming them in the future.
In the medium term, Global66 will focus on new partnerships with media figures to promote the fintech 's services , as it recently did with Peruvian National Team goalkeeper Pedro Gallese. At the same time, there are still challenges ahead to continue growing sustainably.
"Our greatest challenge is to position ourselves in terms of security and trust, in addition to maintaining competitive prices and record-breaking shipping times," says Artacho.
