Peru

In 2023, 71% of Peruvians had access to the internet.

Peru has not yet set out specific regulations for Open Banking or Open Finance, but the financial institutions are already sharing customer data by sending customer information to the Peruvian central bank each month to create a profile (p. 16). This could be considered to be an advantageous head start for Peru when moving to Open Banking. By adding an element of customer consent that would allow Fintechs access to the information, the government could enable consumers to decide how this information is shared with third parties to access their data across applications. 

While Open Banking is not yet functional in Peru, interoperability has been central to previous initiatives set to promote financial inclusion, such as Modelo Peru, a mobile money platform, which emerged as a collaboration between financial institutions, telecom companies, and the government, with the goal to better serve the nation’s unbanked and underbanked.

According to The Global Findex Database, 57% of Peruvian adults had bank accounts in 2021, leaving 43% unbanked. 

A large percentage of the population still remains underserved or excluded, particularly in most rural areas, where financial institutions do not find it profitable to offer services through the current channels and products available in the market. Relatively low population densities in remote areas and the small average size of transactions hamper the expansion of the financial system’s physical network. 57% of Peruvians are unbanked. However, currently, 62% of Peruvians have smartphones and usage increases annually, which might create new opportunities.

The Peruvian government has taken a proactive stance to address its banking issues, and one of the main motivations is to promote financial inclusion.

The banking landscape in Peru is changing even without state regulation. Peru’s banks and Fintechs have launched several new customer-focused services that, for instance, enable peer-to-peer payments and provide financial services and education to young people (p. 16). 70% of Fintech lending in Peru was provided by foreign firms in 2020. 

A skills shortage in the labour market continues to be an issue for employers in Peru, with over 68% of companies in Peru reporting a talent shortfall. The main issues are a lack of available applicants and deficiencies in hard skills and experience.

Peru ranked 61st out of 134 countries in Wiley’s Digital Skills Global Index 2021.