Transforming the Financial Services Landscape in the Americas

The financial services sector (FSI), a vast and intricate ecosystem, encompasses multiple stakeholders and dynamic components. From fundamental banking to investments, insurance, risk management, fintech and capital markets, it plays a critical role in global economies. However, the landscape is evolving rapidly, driven by technological advancements that are reshaping how financial services operate and how consumers engage with them.

This transformation is driven primarily by fintech, the fusion of financial services and technology. McKinsey designs that fintech revenues will grow nearly three times faster than those of the traditional banking sector between 2023 and 2028. Indeed, as the global financial services market expands, projected to grow to US$$44925.71 billion by 2028 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7.6%, Companies are leveraging cloud and AI technologies to optimize their services and create new offerings to stay competitive and include more people in the banked population.

Discover how leading companies across the Americas are transforming their businesses and helping to reshape the financial services industry with innovative Microsoft solutions for efficiency, scalability, productivity, security, and personalization of customer service.

Accelerating operational efficiency

The digital age demands robust infrastructure and companies like Yape (the main Peruvian payment method), Freedom Life Solutions (a popular financial corporation in Mexico), Zenus Bank (a global digital bank headquartered in Puerto Rico), Central Bank of Costa Rica (authority responsible for providing banking services to the Government of Costa Rica and financial institutions) and the  Development Bank of Minas Gerais (a financial institution based in Brazil) accepted the challenge.

In Peru, the user base of Yape grew from half a million to over 12 million in just six years. This exponential growth was supported by a strategic shift to Microsoft Azure, which provided the infrastructure needed to manage a flood of transactions while launching new services and increasing financial inclusion in the country.

Freedom Life Solutions, A financial institution that provides a range of financial services aimed at promoting financial inclusion in Mexico, embarked on a similar journey, modernizing its services with Microsoft Dynamics and Azure. This transformation has enabled both its internal operations and the way it delivers products and services to the market, reducing service delivery time from 48 hours to just 30 minutes, a leap in efficiency with a commitment to customer experience in mind.

Based in Puerto Rico, the Zenus Bank has leveraged Azure to become a pioneer in the international banking industry. Their growth, focused on scalability and security, has enabled them to expand their digital banking services globally, providing their customers with access to U.S. banking services and fast, low-cost global payments.

The SINPE-TP initiative Central Bank of Costa Rica, also powered by Azure, is revolutionizing public transportation payments. Despite the challenges of coordinating multiple stakeholders, they have successfully processed over 14 million transactions, marking a significant step toward a cashless society and modernized infrastructure in Costa Rica.

O   Development Bank of Minas Gerais (BDMG) has also adopted Azure for innovation and improved customer experience. Its disaster recovery solutions ensure operational continuity even in adverse situations. In addition, cloud adoption has positively impacted employee productivity. With its systems running in the cloud, BDMG's team has greater flexibility to work from different locations, allowing secure access to the Bank's systems and increasing efficiency through Azure Virtual Desktop.

Empowering the workforce and driving efficiency

In the field of workforce training and increasing productivity, the Banreservas (largest bank in the Dominican Republic), Itau Bank (the largest banking institution in Brazil and the 2nd largest in Latin America) and the TD Bank Group (Canada’s second-largest bank) leveraged AI to achieve their business goals.

Banreservas turned to Copilot for Microsoft 365 to empower its workforce with cutting-edge tools to succeed and drive its business forward. AI has unlocked new levels of creativity and productivity across the enterprise, setting a new standard for customer experience in the financial industry.

Itaú Bank in Brazil has adopted GitHub Copilot and Copilot for Microsoft 365 to improve its software development and business processes. With Copilot, the bank can generate 1 million lines of code, saving time and focusing on more strategic tasks. It also uses Azure OpenAI Service to read, interpret and classify more than 70,000 legal documents per month.

In the same way,  TD Bank Group has leveraged generative AI to enhance customer experiences in its contact centers and speed up coding workflows for its engineers. Its AI virtual assistant provides short answers using conversational language, including links to relevant TD policies and procedures; and GitHub Copilot is helping TD engineers by analyzing the code they’re writing and providing real-time suggestions for completing and testing it—saving up to 20 hours of work over two weeks, increasing efficiency and innovation across the company.

Transformative service

The Protection (Colombian pension and investment fund manager), DiBanka (Colombian company that aims to improve the financial well-being and inclusion of millions of Colombians with limited access to formal credit) and Brasilprev (Brazilian leader in insurance with over 30 years in the market) exemplify the transformative impact of AI.

Protección’s use of generative AI The company’s move to automate claims reflects its commitment to leveraging technology for better service delivery, with the goal of transforming its business with AI-driven solutions. Using Microsoft’s Azure OpenAI Service, the company has successfully processed 22,000 claims, resulting in 50% more throughput in cases where letters could not be automatically processed by the initial model, and expects to automate 80% of claim withdrawal requests by leveraging these solutions.

DiBanka DiBanka Inc. has developed a digital platform that supports payroll loans, leveraging Azure and AI to automate and secure the lending process. By reducing the costs, time, and risks of traditional lending, the company has grown to serve 99% of the financial institutions offering this type of credit in Colombia, with more than 300,000 active users, 7 million transactions, and zero counterfeits. DiBanka aims to innovate and expand its services in Latin America to improve the financial well-being and inclusion of its members.

Brasilprev, Leading insurer, has taken a major step towards digital transformation. Through its innovative ‘Hub Brasilprev’ platform, powered by Azure OpenAI Service, API Management and Azure Cosmos DB, they have democratized data access and transformed user interaction. This has resulted in an impressive R$1.86 billion in business and a remarkable conversion rate of R$2.81 billion among its target audience. With the digital journey well underway, Brasilprev is poised for even greater success in the future.

Microsoft is uniquely positioned to help institutions solve their most pressing problems and digitally transform their businesses. Through our secure and compliant cloud, AI platform and broad ecosystem of partners, financial institutions can better manage risk across the enterprise, streamline compliance operations, modernize real-time payments, core banking and insurance services, and infrastructure, enable a modern workplace, and deliver differentiated customer experiences.