Argentine Fintech Chamber reports that use rates for mobile wallets have increased 120-800%, mostly since the start of the COVID induced lockdown.
"Argentina has over 180 companies and 10.000 people working daily to develop financial technology, in order to improve the lives of others. That is why we are working to partner with the public sector to enable the use of innovative, digital tools that have already been applied successfully, in hopes of better tackling the challenges introduced by the pandemic," said a spokesperson for the Chamber. Despite an initial approval on March 31st by national authorities to allow the disbursement of emergency funds (ingreso familiar de emergencia, in Spanish) via mobile wallets, as the Chamber had suggested in a formally submitted proposal, the directive was then backtracked, as the authorities informed the Chamber that it would no longer be possible, just days after the initial authorization. The Chamber warned that "speaking about financial inclusion shouldn't be an empty concept."