Banco Inter going MVNO as telcos, fintechs strengthen ‘co-opetition’

Brazil's Banco Inter said in a release it will sell data and voice plans of Vivo (Telefônica Brasil) through a newly created mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) called Intercel, in yet another cross-selling initiative between carriers and digital banks in the country.

A request for accreditation as Vivo's MVNO has been filed with telecom regulator Anatel and the company expects approval to launch the service early in H2, Inter said. 

The bank said its goal is to become a complete service platform, going beyond financial products.

Details of the business model were not made public as they hinge on Anatel approving the license, but a bank spokesperson said the main goal is to increase customer loyalty.

“Inter is 100% digital, all operations are carried out by the application on the cell phone, so there is nothing more natural than offering these services to our customers as well, ensuring good connectivity, good services and special conditions to serve them in the simplest way possible, increasing their time in the app and the cross-selling opportunities," Inter told BNamericas by email.

Created in 1994 as a traditional bank, Banco Inter pivoted its operation in 2014 with the creation of a full digital account, considered the first of its kind in Brazil.

Inter ended 2020 with 8.5mn customers, more than double the number at the beginning of the year. An average of 20,000 digital accounts a day were opened in November. 

Inter's main competitors are Nubank, Original and C6 bank.

'CO-OPETITION'

Partnerships between operators and fintechs have grown in Brazil in a context of accelerated digitization of consumption.

TIM, Brazil's third largest mobile carrier, has a cross-selling deal with digital bank C6. The agreement also allows the carrier to increase its participation in C6 depending on performance. 

Claro also has a partnership with Banco Pan to provide benefits to each other’s customers, while Telefônica Brasil’s Vivo Money service offers loans in partnership with Banco Digio and Ibi Digital.

Eventually, however, operators end up competing with fintechs.

Claro, for example, recently launched Claro Pay, a financial services app that gives access to a digital account and payments by cellphone and has already been launched in an integrated way with PIX, the instant payment service operated by the central bank.

The app was launched first for selected customers and over the next few weeks it should start to be available to all Claro clients.