Technology advances second by second and there are more and more areas where it has an impact. And the lifestyle of millions of people has changed in recent years, even in the way they pay when making a purchase. In Argentina, 91% of citizens use at least one means of payment that is not cash, including debit cards, credit cards or the famous virtual wallets.
Within 3 years, the use of virtual wallets in Argentina increased fivefold. The consultant Kantar conducted a survey where he studied the behavior of Argentines and the payment methods they currently use. It showed that only 9% of the adult population does not have any means of payment, a situation that is repeated in 23% of young people between 18 and 24 years old, 14% of women and 18% of the total population. located at the base of the socioeconomic pyramid.
Specifically, debit cards are preferred by Argentines with 73%, followed by digital wallets with 58% and credit cards with 53%. It should be noted that the greatest use of digital wallets increases in people between 25 and 34 years old with 76%. In addition, its use is also higher at high and medium levels and as a payment tool, especially in the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area (AMBA).
Along these lines, 82% of users between 18 and 34 years old affirm that virtual wallets are more practical. In fact, more and more people choose to have their money in this type of account to obtain benefits, mostly residents of Greater Buenos Aires and the interior. For their part, those over 65 years of age and residents of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires prefer to keep their money in the bank.
“The adoption of electronic payment methods is based on three great advantages: They are considered practical and safe, and are widely accepted in businesses (…) In the current context and with an economy in which informality persists, the use of electronic means of payment coexists with cash in different areas of payment. expenses and consumption of the family economy,” said the director of Kantar, Mariana Souto.
4 out of 10 Argentines use QR to make their payments. According to the digital financial services company MONI, which operates in Argentina through its virtual wallet, 40% of the Argentine population uses QR regularly to make their payments, while 27% have never used it. The reason for not using this medium, according to those surveyed, is because they have not had the opportunity (58%), because they do not know how to do it (23%) or because it does not seem like a practical option (19%).
Specifically, the responses of 2,450 customers of this company were analyzed, of which 73% stated that they made at least one purchase with a QR code during the last year and of them, 40% do so regularly. If the survey is compared to that of 2019, at that time only 35% of users used the system, that is, the base doubled in four years.
Likewise, the Central Bank of the Argentine Republic (BCRA) highlighted that the adoption of electronic payment methods, in addition to the use of the QR code, is gaining more and more ground among users of financial services and in the last year it multiplied by 5 the number of operations carried out through this system. Even 1 in 4 transfer payments is made with a QR code.
At the end of 2023, there are already 60 digital wallets registered with the BCRA. As of the first quarter of 2023, 45 interoperable digital wallets were registered with the BCRA.
Currently, according to the records of the entity (BCRA), there are more than 60 digital wallets from different fintechs, as well as from banking entities.. Among them, the most popular are Mercado Pago, with 7.8 million users in Argentina alone; Ualá with more than 5 million users in Argentina, Mexico and Colombia; Banco Provincia DNI account, with more than 6.8 million; Personal Pay, with more than 1 million; BNA+ from Banco Nación, with almost 10 million and MODO, the virtual wallet used by all banks with 12 million registered.
Which virtual wallet offered the highest performance during 2023? Although each of the virtual wallets offers unique features and services, from being able to make payments in physical stores, access to personal loans, recharging payments or services and managing financial accounts, There are some that are characterized by the approximate returns they generate from account balances.
In this context, Trascendo compared the main e-wallets that paid the most in the country during the year, with Naranja Next is Prex, with 109.3% and Ualá, with 104.07%. The top 5 is completed by Personal Pay (103.3%) and Claro Pay (102.4%).
Real performance. It is important to note that, starting in 2023, the Federal Public Revenue Administration (AFIP) updated the minimum amounts from which both banks and virtual wallets must report movements in accounts, fixed terms and operations to the agency. with cards.
In detail, The minimum amount of an operation is 200 thousand pesos in monthly terms on credits, withdrawals, transfers received, account balances and also subscription and settlement of deposits in fixed terms.
Virtual wallets and fraud. Although the growth of virtual wallets has a fairly significant impact on Argentina’s traditional banking sector, as it is a relatively new technology, we must be alert to possible identity theft and financial fraud. And according to the report “Numbers that speak” of Fiserv20% of users of these tools have had their virtual wallet hacked at some point and the same thing happened to 18% of merchants.
The report also revealed that 60% of people had their cards or their data stolen, while 15% faced the theft of their homebanking data and the remaining percentage, 5%, were deceived by other means. shapes. Given what happened, 43% of those affected indicated that they should return the money they lost, 35% resolved part of the problem, but that they lost money and, finally, 22% could not find a resolution.
Another situation that is occurring is the illegal purchase of bank accounts (CBU) and virtual wallets (CVU), a criminal act that is growing in Argentina. It is carried out through social networks, where criminals buy people’s data and then resell it to third parties and they, in turn, look for ways to carry out fraud, scams, money laundering and other crimes.
In this sense, although these platforms offer a simple alternative to make payments and manage money from mobile devices, We must be prepared, since the financial industry, in general, is going through a series of fraud cases that can affect anyone.
by Melisa Murialdo
