QPagos, a US-based electronic payment services provider, and Suretly, a US-based “crowdvouching” platform, recently announced that their joint venture, Suretly Mexico, is about to begin facilitating loans of up to USD 200 to people with “thin” or no credit histories by connecting them with loan guarantors. These guarantors, who can sign up using the Suretly app, can cover up to 10 percent of the loans. The loans in Mexico will be disbursed primarily via Sociedades Financieras de Objeto Múltiple (SOFOMs), entities that provide financial services to people in Mexico who do not have access to conventional banks. Suretly users are to have access their accounts through a mobile app or any of 100 QPagos kiosks operated by SOFOMs.
The service, which is set to go live in March 2019, offers loans with terms of 30 days. QPagos describes the interest rates as “under 0.33 percent per day.” After repayment is complete, Suretly Mexico promises to pay the guarantor a commission of 5 percent to 25 percent of the amount she had guaranteed. If the borrower fails to repay the loan, the guarantor loses some or all the funds she had committed.
Established in 2016, Suretly is a crowdvouching platform headquartered in New York that lends in Russia, Kazakhstan and the United States. Suretly has a market capitalization of USD 151,000 as of January 2019.
QPagos, founded in 2013, provides electronic payment services to consumers and companies such as “utilities, cell phone operators, entertainment, and banking services.” These include mobile payments, an electronic wallet app, point-of-sale devices, self-service kiosks and payment integration services. QPagos reported revenues of USD 1.94 million for the three months ending September 30, 2018.
By Umit Naz Deryaoglu, Research Associate
Sources and Additional Resources
QPagos press release
https://www.qpagos.com/en/news-media/press-releases/detail/28/qpagos-launching-mexicos-1st-fintech-with-novel
QPagos homepage
https://www.qpagos.com
QPagos third quarter 2018 financial report
https://ir.qpagos.com/all-sec-filings/content/0001615774-18-012709/0001615774-18-012709.pdf
Suretly homepage
https://suretly.com
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