Welcome to the first Money 2020 Middle East.
We're here at the Riyadh exhibition and convention Center.
Now you know this is where money does business, and our next guest is changing the way you do money.
I'd like to welcome Glauber Mota, the CEO of Revolut Brazil.
Pleasure to be here.
So let's start with the news first.
You guys made an announcement about entering the UAE market.
No, such a coincidence.
The announcement came just a few years ago.
For our expansion here in the region, we have this bold ambition to be in 100 countries.
EUA region, of course, is an important one.
We have a team in place appointed CEO, and it was such a nice coincidence that just before this event in Middle East, we got this incredible approval there, so we are excited about the opportunity in the region.
Yes, and speaking of expansion, Brazil was the first expansion market in Latin America, and in 3 short years we've seen so much growth.
Talk to me about that journey and the milestones.
That's the revolut way.
Everything happens so fast.
So we, I joined Revolut about 3 years ago.
We established a business on everything needed to put a financial.
Services regulated company in place.
So go through the licensing, prepare scoping for products, prepare the team, hire the team, and then go to market.
We established the launching about 2 years and a half ago, been testing, got prioritization for the rest of the range of products that Revolut has to offer.
I'm happy to deliver that to the market.
So speaking about the range of products, what have you been focusing on how, what kind of traction have you seen and then what's next?
So Brazil is a very competitive market, as you know, and.
The average Brazilian have 6 different apps to solve financial services issues, yeah, so they, they are relatively young, tech savvy, so they embrace new technologies.
That's the perfect fit for Revolut.
We have implemented solutions that solves everything finances for people worldwide, so we get the best we developed abroad and now deliver it in Brazil, so. is a great place to test new things, to innovate.
That's together with the local payment infrastructure that very well developed and became a benchmark worldwide.
We do have an instant payment infrastructure called PIS.
That's a huge case of financial inclusion.
People saw things 24/7 instant on their cell phones, and now we just connect this with the best what Revolut can offer and have the best of both like the local products and the global services.
So speaking of like these products, what is next?
Are you focusing on credit? is that what I understand?
Brazil credit is very important.
People have a cultural habit to use credit cards even though they pay the bill on time most of the time they used to.
The finances to the credit card bill, so we cannot ignore our behavior and have to adapt ourselves as well, even though we already established with debit card payments, investments, and many other things, it's important to also enter to the credit card businesses.
We already launched actually we are testing in phases and gradually implementing new product offering together with the credit card to establish one of the premium credit card offering in the market.
So this is our next key milestone for this year.
So you know you had mentioned 6 different apps on their phone for financial services, so very competitive.
How do you ensure that customer loyalty and that they're coming to Revolut, that's at the center of their financial lives.
This is the Revolut's secret sauce.
Revolut is a very product driven company.
We don't look much for the segmentation for the competition, of course they're important to take into consideration of their actions, but we're very product driven.
We focus on delivering the best products for the clients, the one who can solve all finances they need in one place in a good, safe, and friendly use space with a relatively low cost added real value to the clients once they test it and they like it, they do recommend and this is the strategy go to market for Revolut.
Everywhere like the global financial super app.
So I'm wondering, you know, as we sit here in Riyadh and you're in Brazil, do you see similarities in the two markets for opportunities for the way people adopt, you know, financial technology apps?
Definitely I see a lot of differences and similarities.
One of the things is the potential for new technologies embracing that the region is having on the conversations I got during the event.
They are very keen for innovation.
They already have the capital to do it.
Now it's all about execution.
If they are able to deliver the trends I have seen in the company in the in the conference, so I'm sure Saudi would be highlighting very soon on the financial services innovation.
It's about being able to adapt the regulatory to embrace new players and competition, and then.
Be prepared.
They have the advantage of the worldwide have been testing a lot of new technologies.
They can take the cutting edge technologies from scratch and establish here without many legacy.
So it's a it's a huge opportunity for newcomers and for new technologies to be implemented.
It's all about execution now.
Yeah, speaking of the new technology, is there any, you know, emerging trend or product?
I mean, beyond what we know about AI already that you think is going to have the biggest impact.
So definitely blockchain technologies and tokenization wanna have a play.
I heard about the Neon project that this smart city that they are developing.
They are planning the financial services they're all in this ultimate technology, but this is more in my view about the vision, about the end game.
On the short term they can embrace a lot of new experiences.
So for example, the peaks experience that we got in Brazil and they could implement new infrastructure here from the beginning without having to wait for these new technologies to become mainstream.
So it is, it is about making choices, right?
Uh, the, the good news is a lot of being tested already abroad they can learn with it and implement here faster.
Well, that's exactly what I wanted to ask you about.
How much can you apply lessons that you've learned in different regions and how much is localized.
This is how revolut the business, of course everything we build must have the capability to scale.
So everything that is replicable, we do it with centralized process through verticals on our global team.
The last Mayo usually is developed locally.
To adapt for the local regulatory requirements for specific needs.
So for example, to developing pigs as a primary participant, of course we have to build a team in Brazil.
But now that team has learned how to do pigs and delivered, they can replicate to the Colombia instant payments that rabbi that's gonna be very similar to the Brazil one.
They can use this expertise to develop Mexico and many other countries locally, so.
We do have this nice shared services combination that allows us to replicate everything that's replicable, and then we have a specialized people to develop the less smile.
This is the way we grow in a more lean with very qualified people worldwide.
The secret sauce is the revolut way of doing things.
It's fascinating to watch.
Thank you so much for sharing your insights.
It's been a pleasure.
Thank you very much for having me.
