Brazilian government to facilitate entry of foreign Fintechs
Posted by Letícia França | drummondadvisors.com
Flexibilization is positive, but it is necessary to consider the fiscal and structural parts of the process
Keeping an eye on the competitive growth of the financial sector and the reduction of the cost of credit, the government decreed, on October 30, the simplification of the operation process of foreign Fintechs companies in the Brazilian market.
Previously, foreign financial technology companies were required express authorization from the Presidency of the Republic to enter into Fintech’s national system — a time-consuming and complicated bureaucracy that ran into other problems, such as the difficulty of applying international venture capital funds in exchange of capital in Brazilian companies, a common and even expected process of the sector.
The withdrawal of this obligation applies to companies that act as a Direct Credit Society (Sociedade de Crédito Direto or SCD), which are the companies that lend their own resources, and as a Partnership Between People (Sociedade entre Pessoas or SEP), which are the bridge between those who needs money and those who wants to lend it.
But even with all this easiness, Michel de Amorim warns of the fiscal and structural consequences of the process. “We must be aware of the complexity of taking a financial technology company to the Brazilian market. The structuring of the company — from the corporate structure to the location of the company —, its tax planning and risk analysis, for example, are points that deserve extra attention and cannot be ignored,” says Amorim.
In the long run, Amorim sees even greater impacts from the decision. “We can already feel the immediate competitive growth. In the medium term we will see the Brazilian and American financial markets being permanently heated, and a greater opening for other trade agreements between Brazil and the United States to take place,” he concludes.