The Latin American financial sector is going through what experts define as the “Smart Era”. Artificial Intelligence (AI) has gone from being a distant promise to becoming the center of a real transformation: more credit, more efficiency and more people included in the financial system, greater sustainability.
In Brazil, the numbers speak for themselves. Institutions that have integrated AI into critical processes have achieved a 74% cost reduction and an identical improvement in processing speed. More than efficiency, technology acts to preserve the integrity of the system, with a 63% reduction in fraud. This advance is supported by a unique ecosystem, where PIX and Open Finance work as continuous innovation.
Brazilian credit bureaus are protagonists in this journey, with concrete solutions and experiences:
- Use Generative AI to provide credit recommendations to SMEs in seconds, reaching 38% of business owners looking to improve their working capital management and potentially unlocking over R$ 200 million in the retail sector.
- Democratization of financial education through ChatGPT, meeting the needs of 38% of Brazilians who already consult AI tools daily to organize their finances.
- Application of machine learning to humanize credit recovery, increasing the accuracy rate by 10% and ensuring a return on investment of up to 300%.
- Development of an analytical automation platform, reducing model development costs by 66%, tripling its production capacity and increasing predictive accuracy (KS index) by up to 8 points.
When we broaden the analysis to Latin America, it becomes clear that sustainable credit reveals its inclusive nature even more clearly. Some of the most striking examples include:
- In Colombia, the use of alternative data by a global credit bureau has added 4 million new consumers to the traditional system.
- In Mexico, algorithms applied to a credit card reduced delinquency by 50% for borrowers with no formal credit history.
- In Argentina, two local fintechs are using AI in different ways: one analyzes more than 10,000 real-time data points extracted from mobile phones to score historically underserved populations, while another uses Natural Language Processing (NLP) to classify transactions and enforce rule-based limits.
- In Ecuador, a fintech specializing in offering credit to women-led companies, combines demographic data and social reputation networks to finance female entrepreneurs, positioning the country as a regional reference in data governance.
Behind every algorithm, there are people. The 10-20-70 Model teaches that only 10% of the transformative effort comes from AI tools, 20% from IT infrastructure, while the fundamental 70% resides in people and culture. AI, in this context, is recognized as “Expanded Intelligence”, a tool that enhances human discernment for decision-making.
For credit to continue driving development, it is important to maintain proportionate and intelligent regulation of its use, tailored to each market. This creates an ideal environment for new investments, encourages credit, and drives innovation, spreading the benefits throughout the entire ecosystem. With regional cooperation and responsible use, Latin America has everything it needs to turn its technological enthusiasm into sustainable growth and real financial inclusion for all.
Author: Elias Sfeir
President of ANBC – National Association of Credit Bureaus. Representative of Latin America in the World Bank Credit Committee. He also represents Brazil globaly, being active member in credit organisations accross the world, such as ACCIS, BIIA and ALACRED.
Source: ANBC
