Strong bases set out a clear path for Brazil to take the lead in Open Finance globally

Ozone APIs’s General Manager for Latin America, Fabio Caldeira, highlights the Brazilian Central Bank’s essential role for the local initiative which has evolved so much in two years and reinforces the importance of Brazil positioning itself as a global leader.

On February 2, 2023, Brazil celebrated two years since the beginning of its Open Finance initiative. I had the opportunity to closely follow the evolution of the activities led by the Central Bank – since 2018 until now, as General Manager for Ozone API in Latin America. We have evolved a lot in a short time, and today we are global specialists in open finance.

For me, the essential point that allowed us to evolve so much in such a short time was the active role the regulator played in encouraging the market to collaborate in building what is today one of the most advanced Open Finance initiatives in the world. The creation of a governance structure and the leadership style proposed by the regulator were essential pillars to sustain the evolution that we have seen in recent years – especially in comparison with countries that are already quite developed in this area, such as the UK.

By establishing strong foundations for building a truly open financial system, where participating financial institutions can share data and carry out transactions, always with the consent of users, the Central Bank has put together a plan that in itself opens up several opportunities for financial institutions and companies from different sectors, and that also advances even further including topics such as the Real Digital.

These past two years have not come without challenges, and it has been refreshing to see companies like Ozone API come to the Brazilian market to facilitate the implementation of all the standards that have been set by the industry through the governance structure. We played an active role in this construction, and have worked to create a type of “shortcut” with high added value to facilitate the entry of more players in the new ecosystem that is being developed.

The experience we have in markets such as the UK, Europe and the Middle East has also made it easier for us to create bridges and exchange learnings with other markets that are also advancing in Open Banking. This global positioning is essential to ensure that Brazil not only continues to evolve our open ecosystem, but takes the lead in the industry and is perceived globally as the most advanced market when it comes to Open Finance.