Open Finance in LATAM: who is leading and where we are going
What is open finance
Open finance is a regulated system in which individuals and companies authorize, with explicit consent, their financial data to travel between institutions through standardized APIs. It is the evolution of open banking: it no longer covers only bank accounts, but also credit, insurance, investments, and pensions.
The principle is simple: the data belongs to the customer, not the institution. In Peru, the SBS summarized it like this in its draft regulation: entities will not be able to "close themselves off" with a customer's information if the customer asks to share it with another entity.
And it does not stop at looking at data. The most mature models allow action to be taken on them: initiating payments or moving a loan to another institution with better conditions.
How it impacts
Consumers: more control and better offers. In Brazil, starting February 2026, a person can request from their cell phone that another institution buy their debt, within a maximum of three business days. They can authorize and revoke access to their data whenever they want.
Society: more inclusion. A study by Columbia University for the IDB found that, after the implementation of open finance in Brazil, the relationship between the use of instant payments (Pix) and household access to credit grew by nearly two-thirds. Daily payment history began to count as evidence of capacity to pay.
Financial institutions: new obligations and new opportunities. They must expose APIs, manage consents with total traceability, and respond in real-time. In exchange, they gain access to customer data from other entities to assess risk and offer more accurate products; the same study associates open finance with more personal loan origination.
Why financial institutions must get behind it
It is no longer optional. Colombia has already made it mandatory, Chile will require it starting July 2027, and Peru from 2028. The margin to "wait and see" is closing.
The one who arrives prepared competes; the one who arrives late only complies. Building APIs, consent, and security takes time. Doing it against the deadline turns an opportunity into technical debt.
Data now belongs to the customer. If the relationship with the customer is no longer sustained by having their data exclusively, it is sustained by the experience and the value offered to them.
It is not just for big banks. Peru leaves the door open to savings banks and cooperatives that prove they are prepared, and Chile created a "simplified participation" for smaller entities. Cooperatives, savings banks, and microfinance institutions serve those who stand to gain the most from this model.
Who is leading in LATAM
Brazil leads by a wide margin; Colombia and Chile accelerated the most in 2026. The ranking orders by real progress: operating system, then effective mandatory requirement, then technical framework with a date, then regulation under consultation.
*Argentina joined in October 2025 with an announcement from the BCRA; in 2026 it is working in technical groups, with no published schedule.
Where we are going
Between 2026 and 2028, open finance transitions from a regulatory promise to an obligation in the region's main markets. Three trends will shape the coming years:
From data to action. The value is not in sharing data, but in what it enables: initiating payments, porting loans, approving in minutes. The Central Bank of Brazil already states that the challenge now is to turn knowledge into use.
Instant payments as a foundation. Where rails like Pix in Brazil or Yape and Plin in Peru exist, open finance scales faster.
Inclusion depends on design. If complying costs the same for a big bank as for a cooperative, the entities closest to those who currently do not have access to credit will be left out.
The conclusion
The question for any financial institution in LATAM is no longer whether it will participate, but whether it will arrive as a protagonist or a follower. And that is defined before the deadline, in digital channels: that is where the customer authorizes, revokes, and decides who to share their data with.
At Bankingly we support banks, cooperatives, savings banks, and microfinance institutions in the region to modernize these channels with Digital Banking, Digital Onboarding, Fraud Prevention, and Agent Banking, on a SaaS platform with ISO 27001 certification.
Is your institution ready for open finance? Schedule a conversation with our team and let's review together how prepared your digital channels are.
