Guatemala

According to Kepios, 65% of Guatemalans had access to the Internet at the end of 2020.

Guatemala’s banking rules and regulations are traditional, and even though they do not allow Open Banking businesses, they do accept for banks to improve the form in which they render their services to their clients.

The model for retail payments adopted in Guatemala does not have a specific requirement for interoperability, as it assumes that private initiatives should flourish first and then coordinate to become mutually compatible.

44% of Guatemalan adults had bank accounts at the end of 2020, leaving 56% unbanked. Statista ranks Guatemala as the largest market of Fintech users in Central America, with around 6.3 million digital payments users and 1 million customers of personal financial services.

The government does not regulate Fintech in the country. Some financial services can be provided without having to formally register in the country; however, If a foreign entity wants to pursue any other financial service, it is due to the Guatemalan financial regulation, Law for Private Financial Institutions, and requires authorizations from the Banking Authority of Guatemala.

According to Fintech Guatemala, there are 47 Fintech companies in the country. 40% of these companies operate in the digital payment space, followed by 19% in online lending and 9% in personal financial management.

Mastercard announced the launch of a new financial inclusion program in Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras in 2022 that will accelerate the company’s objective of including five million unbanked individuals and digitise and provide credit access to one million micro and small businesses (MSMBs) over the course of five years in the three countries. 

Guatemala scored 39.09 in the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Index Digital Skills among the population ranking 123rd in the world and 16th in the region.