Operating Licenses and Deep Regulatory Understanding: Turning a Challenge into a Strategic Advantage

Navigating the terrain of regulatory bodies in Latin countries requires caution; often, it is like changing tires on a moving car. It is difficult, requires precision, and pulling over to the shoulder can cost a lot of money. But I have noticed that when we structure our entire team around this need, everyone wins.

I look fondly upon the moment we find ourselves in here at SmartFastPay. For those who follow the markets we operate in—payments, e-commerce, and iGaming among many others—you might just picture transaction volumes growing. But on the inside, we are experiencing an intense phase of professionalization and getting our house in order.

Today, most of our efforts go not only toward perfecting our payment API, but into the relentless pursuit of being connected to the final processing layer: the Central Banks.

The horizon is very clear to us. We do not want to be just another intermediary. Our natural path is to operate as a regulated PSP (Payment Service Provider), delivering a complete end-to-end service. To make this happen, we are in an intense licensing process in four more essential countries in the region: Ecuador, Bolivia, Chile, and Peru. Our expectation is to turn the year with these four licenses in hand.

In this process of seeking licenses, we had to look inward. We invested in people, developed proprietary technology built entirely “in-house,” and implemented new processes. We are unraveling all the engineering details of operating in total legality within each country, structuring local entities with teams and connections who truly know the ground they walk on.

All of this has a very clear motive: Ensuring the success of our clients while contributing to the health of the financial ecosystem in the countries where we operate. Working in Latin America is not like operating in Europe, where the regulatory landscape for many digital businesses is already mature and stabilized. Our region is still unstable in terms of regulation. Government bodies, for both merchants and financial institutions, are constantly changing the rules to keep up with digitalization.

This directly interferes with business. You design a perfect roadmap for the next year, and halfway through, a regulator in a key country changes the rules. Recalculating the route is part of the job, but it requires extreme caution and teams equipped with the right professionals. This is exactly why we are perfecting our structure to meet the challenges of clients of all sizes, even global giants. We want them to have access to every country in the Americas through a single API, a single integration, without worrying about the underlying legal complexity.

We choose to be on the front lines of these changes. Having local teams means understanding the shift in the game before it harms those who rely on our technology.

Cooperating with regulatory bodies is not always the fastest path, but we realize that cooperating with them is, ultimately, cooperating with the very health of the financial ecosystem in the countries where we operate. It is right there, at that balance point between the speed of technology and the security of regulation, where we want to be.

We are still driving a moving car, and the Latin American road has its sharp curves. But with the team and structure we are building, I have the peace of mind that we are ready for any terrain.

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