Mobile banking skyrockets with Brazil transactions nearly 80% digital

Fueled by a surge in mobile operations, 77% of all banking transactions carried out in Brazil last year were via digital channels such as smartphones or PCs, according to the second part of a banking tech survey carried out by consultancy Deloitte for Brazilian banking association Febraban.

The transaction include financial ones such as paying bills and non-financial ones such as checking a balance. 

The study was carried out with 17 Brazilian banks and released during Febraban Tech, the largest financial technology event in Latin America, which is being held this week in São Paulo.

Cellphones were responsible for 66% of all transactions last year, according to the survey.

In all, Brazilians carried out 163.3bn banking transactions in 2022 in various channels, both physical and digital, up 30% over 2021. Overall, 72% of financial transactions were carried out via digital channels, the survey shows. 

According to Febraban/Deloitte, this growth is the highest ever recorded, and was mainly driven by mobile banking, which saw a 54% increase in the number of transactions, totaling 107.1bn.

From 2020 to 2021, the two first years of the pandemic, mobile banking had already grown, but at a lower rate: 20% to 69.6bn transactions in 2021.

Meanwhile, internet banking transactions were virtually flat last year at 17.8bn.

“Internet banking is quite stable and has a very loyal audience of users, which are corporates and legal entities. It is not necessarily losing space,” Rodrigo Mulinari, technology director at Banco do Brasil and head of innovation and technology at Febraban, said in a press conference.

As expected, the survey showed a decline in physical channel transactions, especially those made by Brazilians at brick-and-mortar bank branches, which dropped from 3.3bn in 2021 to 3.2bn in 2022.

Operations made at ATMs tumbled 27%, from 7.4bn to 5.4bn in 2022.

Also, last year, 93% of all credit transactions were carried out via digital channels. That is, only 7% of bank loans in Brazil were made in person.

WHATSAPP

The survey included for the first time data on bank transactions made using WhatsApp, whose payments feature was authorized by the central bank in March 2021. 

According to the study, 50% of the responding banks offer the WhatsApp channel for transactions, financial or non-financial ones. In one year, operations grew 531%, reaching a total of 56.2mn transactions last year.

Of the total, 37% refer to financial operations via instant payment service PIX and 29% to debt renegotiations.

According to the study, 46.2mn accounts were opened in 2022, 63% through digital channels (mobile banking and internet banking).

For the second consecutive year, the number of accounts opened in digital channels exceeded the number opened in physical ones. 

PIX

In just over two years of operations, PIX not only catalyzed mobile transactions but was also a channel for financial inclusion for Brazilians.

"We are not only having more people using PIX in Brazil. PIX also brought people that did not use any kind of banking service," said Mulinari.

In 2022, PIX transactions exceeded 11.7bn, an increase of 105% over 2021. Transactions made via TED/DOC, traditional banking transfer systems, fell by 29% in the period.

According to the most recent data from the central bank, PIX this month hit new records, with nearly 250mn transactions made in just two days.

The first part of Febraban/Deloitte's survey, released in May, focused on investments and technologies.

In 2022, banks' technology investments grew 18% to 34.9bn reais (US$7.21bn) The forecast for 2023 is 45.1bn reais, an increase of 29%.

If it materializes, it would be the biggest increase in the last five years.