Kontigo gears up to release transparent online financing in Mexico and Colombia

A husband and wife from Peru with more than 30 years’ banking experience have joined forces with one of the biggest banks in South America – BBVA – to help grow their venture. Mario Cruz Aguilar and Yosy García Pariona launched Kontigo in October 2016, focused on making access to financial services more digitally transparent.

Kontigo is an online platform that enables financial institutions to offer loans, credit cards and insurance through digital channels, while giving the end user a transparent view of what’s available. Leveraging Cruz’s accountancy expertise and García’s system engineering knowledge, the pair have grown the company in their home country. After leaving their jobs in financial management, they started working on the venture on a full-time basis.

Serving both businesses and professionals, Kontigo customers are typically between 24 and 44 with a good payment history. “But we don’t stop providing the opportunity to people who want to secure finance on credit for the first time,” detailed Cruz. “The digital channels we develop as white label are aimed at connecting people online with financial entities to request and obtain personal or business loans.”

With 14 people now on the team, Kontigo is growing and has raised over $500,000 of investment so far. As the company expands, CEO Cruz is leading planning, business operations and product development, while COO García fronts IT processes and projects. Delivering its service across Peru currently, the next step is to build internationally, which it hopes will be achieved in partnership with BBVA.

BBVA first met with Cruz at the Lima Fintech Forum arranged by Pacifico University in May 2018. After a long pitch that caught the eye of the bank, Cruz was approached by BBVA. Jeannie Slade from BBVA’s Retail Products Discipline explained that their early meetings were to better understand the fintech behind Kontigo and its purpose. After this, Jeannie invited Cruz to participate in a Fast Track workshop.

This invite resulted in BBVA Continental explaining the vision it had for a project. Kontigo connects people who require credit through digital channels, which we develop for financial entities, such as white label, said Cruz. “BBVA Continental needs to have a digital channel that allows it to provide credit via online agreement with approval in minutes. That’s where the synergy was born.”

Following Fast Track, Kontigo applied for BBVA Open Talent 2018, the fintech innovation competition, and subsequently secured a finalist’s place in the Financial Inclusion category at the BBVA Fintech Business Awards 2018. “Knowing us more and convinced that we could help them on the project, they invited us to join the Fast Track 2019 programme at the beginning of the year; then we started the project development together with BBVA,” Cruz said.

A proof-of-concept project officially had its first output in September and, elaborating on the Peruvian effort, Slade explained: “We have the Boost Plan which targets growth in credit cards, account savings and personal loans. Loans with payroll discounts are part of the personal loans portfolio. The objective is the average balance growth.” In a bid to achieve this, a digital flow for payment of loans with payroll discount will be created in a bid to enhance productivity of sales people.

The next step for Kontigo is to begin a legal and market study with a view of entering Mexico by the end of the year and Colombia in 2020, which is where the support of BBVA will come in further useful. Looking ahead to the future, Cruz is certain that the alignment will remain strong. “The project we carried out with BBVA Continental is long-term because it will include other bank products as part of the supply portfolio,” he said.

For Cruz, the partnership has been powerful in helping him to grow the business. He found the Fast Track process valuable in opening up access to stakeholders within the bank and being directly involved in setting the vision and objectives for the PoC. This close and collaborative relationship between representatives from the bank and fintech founders is what sets BBVA apart in its approach to innovation.

Following Fast Track, Kontigo applied for BBVA Open Talent 2018, the fintech innovation competition, and subsequently secured a finalist’s place in the Financial Inclusion category at the BBVA Fintech Business Awards 2018. “Knowing us more and convinced that we could help them on the project, they invited us to join the Fast Track 2019 programme at the beginning of the year; then we started the project development together with BBVA,” Cruz said.

A proof-of-concept project officially had its first output in September and, elaborating on the Peruvian effort, Slade explained: “We have the Boost Plan which targets growth in credit cards, account savings and personal loans. Loans with payroll discounts are part of the personal loans portfolio. The objective is the average balance growth.” In a bid to achieve this, a digital flow for payment of loans with payroll discount will be created in a bid to enhance productivity of sales people.

The next step for Kontigo is to begin a legal and market study with a view of entering Mexico by the end of the year and Colombia in 2020, which is where the support of BBVA is expected to come in further useful. Looking ahead to the future, Cruz believes the alignment will remain strong. “The project we carried out with BBVA Continental is long-term because it will include other bank products as part of the supply portfolio,” he said.

For Cruz, the partnership has been powerful in helping him to grow the business. He found the Fast Track process valuable in opening up access to stakeholders within the bank and being directly involved in setting the vision and objectives for the PoC. This close and collaborative relationship between representatives from the bank and fintech founders is what sets BBVA apart in its approach to innovation.