Millicom will seek to expand its digital wallet in Latin America | ECONOMY

Millicom International Cellular SA plans an aggressive expansion of its electronic wallet, Tigo Money, in Latin America, counting on a wider adoption of so-called QR codes and an imminent agreement with one of the world’s leading payment processing networks.

“In our markets, more than 70% of people do not have access to the real financial system,” said Mauricio Ramos, executive director of the telecommunications company, in an interview. “We are talking about financial inclusion, bringing the possibility of taking it (the wallet) to all businesses through alliances, either with Visa or Mastercard.”

The agreement with any of the payment processing networks should happen in the “not distant future”, however, Ramos declined to provide a specific date.

Tigo Money, which operates in El Salvador, Bolivia, Guatemala and Honduras, aims to expand the availability of QR code payments to more customers. It is currently working on an expansion to Nicaragua and Panama by 2022, Ramos said. The company will drive the growth of its financial services from its new center in Panama, where the company has just announced an investment of US $ 250 million.

The company is ready to adopt the exchange of currency from El Salvador to bitcoin, Ramos said, a move that may give the company space to explore the potential of the world of cryptocurrencies. Millicom has 1 million Tigo Money clients in the Central American nation who, like consumers in neighboring countries such as Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua, depend to a great extent on remittance flows.

Millicom is not considering partnering with other fintech players as it believes it has the presence and drive to grow in Latin America using internal resources.

“We have all the toys we need,” Ramos said.

In the second quarter, the company reported 45% growth in operating profit, while revenues increased 12% to $ 1.09 billion. Due to the strong performance, Millicom launched a share buyback program of up to US $ 100 million. Last month, Ramos said that Millicom is well positioned to sustain mid-to-high single-digit earnings growth over the medium term.

Millicom shares have been little changed this year, compared to a 15% gain on the Nasdaq Composite Index.

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