Payment Methods: The Revolution of the Decade in

the Foreign Exchange Sector

The year was 2012. There was still little talk about fintechs. B&T was already dedicated to a topic that has gained as much relevance as financial startups in the last decade: innovation in payment methods. Specifically in our case, cross-border payment services and money transfers: both the mass payments made by companies, for instance, to pay suppliers, teams, and international partners, and the remittance operations made by immigrants to send money back to their home countries.

Initially, the intermediation of these services was concentrated in the hands of a few large banks. I witnessed the opening of the market from B&T's pioneering, when, in the main forums of the currency exchange segment in the country, we reinforced the importance of expanding the boundaries of the sector, including new players, and expanding the range of institutions able to process payments and transfers. A movement that has been translated into business diversity, competitiveness, fluidity in commercial relations, and better conditions for clients, facilitating access to services and reducing costs.

B&T's initiatives back in 2012 started preparing this market for the size it is today. A segment with increased capacity to serve companies that expand their business to new countries and depend on internationalization to stay in the game. A scenario that has seen an unprecedented leap in the number of Brazilians going to live abroad and companies hiring professionals in dozens of different nations. Not to mention the explosion of online commerce, which sees no borders to deliver products and remunerate organizations and people. In all cases, an agile and efficient payment and transfer service has been essential.

One of the characteristics that I most admire in this market is its potential to serve all kinds of customers. And therein also lies much of the social and collective function that has always helped drive B&T's pioneering initiatives. It is a democratic service that can benefit from organizations with businesses on all continents that need to honor commitments to the remote immigrant who, even without a bank account, needs to send money to support his or her family back home. An opportunity we have to help boost both the strategy of giant corporations and the lives of people who simply want to pay for their children's schooling, their parents' medical care, and seek a better life.

Over the years, facing different customer demands, we have also improved our services. Transfers of smaller sums are more simplified and can be done through the fintech IZZI Remessas, which uses the B&T Exchange API to perform operations. Larger amounts remain within B&T's structure and, due to their high complexity, require specialized consulting, which involves from the analysis of the operation and tax issues to the exchange rate framework up to structuring the service in the most efficient way for the client.

With technology and the increasing global integration of companies and people, in the coming years the revolution in payment methods will accelerate even further.

By Tulio Portella, commercial director of B&T Câmbio. He has an MBA in Foreign Trade and International Business from - FGV and a Post-Graduate degree in Family Business Management from PUC-RIO.

–What is the reason for the recognition that Banco de los Trabajadores recently received in Los Angeles?

–The authorities of that city recognized our efforts to expose the art and history of Guatemala at the 2022 Chapín Festival and, in this way, contribute to cultivating culture in the community.

–What motivated the financial group to become the main sponsor of this event?

–Bantrab was born in 1966 to promote the welfare of workers wherever they are and Los Angeles is one of the US cities with the largest number of Guatemalans in the United States. Supporting the Chapín Festival is giving the opportunity to more than 70 thousand of them to enjoy the traditions and folklore of their country.