Brazil in the last few years has become exceedingly advanced when it comes to the card industry and payment industry in general. From within emerging markets, Brazil seems to stand on the forefront of how cards and Payments are being implemented. When compared to countries like the United States, it does seem that brazil is in its beginning stages, with more room to grow.
We now are looking at the major players in the Brazilian card industry, Cielo, Itau Unibanco, and card alternative Boleto Bancario.
Cielo, formerly known as Visanet was founded in 1995 as a joint venture between Visa and the then 3 major Brazilian banks. Cielo has been responsible for every single Visa credit, or debit transaction made in Brazil up until 2010. In 2010, Brazil changed their banking regulations to allow multi-brand card usage, and Cielo followed suit and began to process payments from other cards besides Visa, that were up until then were exclusive to other processors. Cielo is now Brazil's biggest processor and offers their services to 99% of Brazilian municipalities
Itau Unibanco takes the second and third spot after Cielo. Itau Unibanco Offers 2 solutions, Redecard, and Hipercard. Redecard in similarity to Cielo, used to process exclusively, every MasterCard and Diners Card transaction in Brazil up until 2010, and today they offer processing to Visa and others. In addition to their Redecard, Itau Unibanco also offers Hipercard. Hipercard began back during the 1970’s as local supermarket rewards card, and has since grown to be it’s own method of payment alongside Visa and MasterCard, and is the third largest card company in Brazil.
Boleto Bancario offers Brazilians a different method of paying than traditional cards. Referred to as end-consumer push payment method, Boleto Bancario has processed over 20% of all online payments in Brazil. The payment method is largely accepted and is offered by numerous top retailers and brand names in Brazil. Boleto Bancario offers the consumer the option to pay either with cash by printing out a pre filled Boleto Bancário bank slip. or through online local banking to complete the payment.
We here at Payment Magnates have discussed Brazil’s different payment Methods and how they have become widely accepted, in addition to partnering with companies around the globe to be able to offer more coverage. You may also want to read the interview of Javier Vallaure, allpago's Director of Business Development. The Latin American market, Brazil in particular may have seemed like a tough market to penetrate, but with understanding the available methods of payments and with more companies providing support for them, and with the growth of card usage in Brazil, it is definitely not a market to neglect
image courtesy of Flickr
