The group requested and obtained, a few weeks ago, approval from the Central Bank (BC) to change the name of Banco Original do Agronegócio to PicPay Bank. The information is in the Official Federal Gazette (Diário Oficial da União), published last June 21.
With the banking license, PicPay will be able to unlock much of the value deposited in the account for the operation. The fintech closed last year with R$ 6.3 billion in account.
Sought, PicPay says that the Original Agribusiness Bank went from being a directly controlled institution to an indirectly controlled one, under PicPay's holding company. The change is part of a corporate reorganization of the Original conglomerate, controlled by J&F. In other words, the fintech now has a financial institution under its structure, in addition to its own payment institution (PI) issuing electronic currency.
"The reorganization improves the company's capital structure, giving PicPay greater autonomy and security to finance its assets, create financial services and use resources that contribute to its growth strategy," the fintech informs the portals Fintechs Brasil and Finsiders.
Spiralem consultant Bruno Diniz recalls that by accommodating banking licenses under the PicPay umbrella the group is following what other fintechs have been doing out there, buying banking licenses to cheapen the cost of capital.
"It is also worth remembering that PicPay has shelved plans to go public on the stock exchange until further notice. I dare say that the fintech has gone beyond what Original was as a digital bank and has become very relevant to the group," he added.
The move comes at a time when PicPay is already approaching 66 million users and is advancing in its strategy to be a super app. In addition to payments and services such as paid digital account, card and loan, the fintech offers a marketplace of third-party products.
Since last year, it also started to offer P2P lending, in an operation made possible by Crednovo, a Sociedade de Empréstimo entre Pessoas (SEP) - which is also part of the J&F group, owned by the Batista family - whose CEO is Raul Moreira.
To diversify business and, of course, monetize its large user base, PicPay has been expanding its range of offerings.
To cite a few examples, in March PicPay added insurance to the financial marketplace, which protects payment transactions, a product developed in partnership with the insurance company Kovr.
At the end of June, together with Câmbio Online (which is part of Frente Corretora de Câmbio), the fintech started offering the purchase and sale of foreign currency and international transfers through the app.
The company is also preparing an exchange for trading crypto-assets, as well as its own stablecoin, according to Anderson Chamon, co-founder and vice president of products and technology at PicPay, told the NeoFeed website.
On the bottom line, the fintech still operates at a loss. It ended 2021 with losses of R$1.9 billion, more than double compared to the previous year. Total net revenues grew 193% on the same basis of comparison, adding up to R$1.1 billion at the end of 2021.
Banco Original, in turn, has been betting on a more modest growth, focused on profitability, as said by the president of the institution, Alexandre Abreu, in an interview to Finsiders four months ago.
At the time, Original announced its first annual profit, of R$ 88 million, five years after the turnaround that transformed a wholesale bank focused on agribusiness into a digital bank.
Unlike its main competitors, which have invested heavily in expanding their client base, Original has not reached a significant number so far - it ended last year with 5.7 million clients and expects to reach 10 million by the end of 2022.
The bank operates on five fronts: retail; corporate (MIEs and micro, small, and medium-sized companies); wholesale; non-account holders; and open platform with banking as a service (BaaS) operations - that source from which PicPay has been drinking for some years.
The group requested and obtained, a few weeks ago, approval from the Central Bank (BC) to change the name of Banco Original do Agronegócio to PicPay Bank. The information is in the Official Federal Gazette (Diário Oficial da União), published last June 21.
With the banking license, PicPay will be able to unlock much of the value deposited in the account for the operation. The fintech closed last year with R$ 6.3 billion in account.
Sought, PicPay says that the Original Agribusiness Bank went from being a directly controlled institution to an indirectly controlled one, under PicPay's holding company. The change is part of a corporate reorganization of the Original conglomerate, controlled by J&F. In other words, the fintech now has a financial institution under its structure, in addition to its own payment institution (PI) issuing electronic currency.
"The reorganization improves the company's capital structure, giving PicPay greater autonomy and security to finance its assets, create financial services and use resources that contribute to its growth strategy," the fintech informs the portals Fintechs Brasil and Finsiders.
Spiralem consultant Bruno Diniz recalls that by accommodating banking licenses under the PicPay umbrella the group is following what other fintechs have been doing out there, buying banking licenses to cheapen the cost of capital.
"It is also worth remembering that PicPay has shelved plans to go public on the stock exchange until further notice. I dare say that the fintech has gone beyond what Original was as a digital bank and has become very relevant to the group," he added.
The move comes at a time when PicPay is already approaching 66 million users and is advancing in its strategy to be a super app. In addition to payments and services such as paid digital account, card and loan, the fintech offers a marketplace of third-party products.
Since last year, it also started to offer P2P lending, in an operation made possible by Crednovo, a Sociedade de Empréstimo entre Pessoas (SEP) - which is also part of the J&F group, owned by the Batista family - whose CEO is Raul Moreira.
To diversify business and, of course, monetize its large user base, PicPay has been expanding its range of offerings.
To cite a few examples, in March PicPay added insurance to the financial marketplace, which protects payment transactions, a product developed in partnership with the insurance company Kovr.
At the end of June, together with Câmbio Online (which is part of Frente Corretora de Câmbio), the fintech started offering the purchase and sale of foreign currency and international transfers through the app.
The company is also preparing an exchange for trading crypto-assets, as well as its own stablecoin, according to Anderson Chamon, co-founder and vice president of products and technology at PicPay, told the NeoFeed website.
On the bottom line, the fintech still operates at a loss. It ended 2021 with losses of R$1.9 billion, more than double compared to the previous year. Total net revenues grew 193% on the same basis of comparison, adding up to R$1.1 billion at the end of 2021.
Banco Original, in turn, has been betting on a more modest growth, focused on profitability, as said by the president of the institution, Alexandre Abreu, in an interview to Finsiders four months ago.
At the time, Original announced its first annual profit, of R$ 88 million, five years after the turnaround that transformed a wholesale bank focused on agribusiness into a digital bank.
Unlike its main competitors, which have invested heavily in expanding their client base, Original has not reached a significant number so far - it ended last year with 5.7 million clients and expects to reach 10 million by the end of 2022.
The bank operates on five fronts: retail; corporate (MIEs and micro, small, and medium-sized companies); wholesale; non-account holders; and open platform with banking as a service (BaaS) operations - that source from which PicPay has been drinking for some years.