Argentina's Ualá has acquired Ceibo Créditos, a fintech firm specialising in providing credit and financial services that include "buy now, pay later" (BNPL) options that don't require a credit score, Ualá Chief Executive Officer Pierpaolo Barbieri said in a phone interview.
"We believe this is a complementary product to debit and credit," Barbieri said of the purchase. "It's another step up the credit ladder." The chief executive declined to disclose the size of the transaction
Ceibo was founded in 2015 by Andrés Matalón and Facundo Mangieri, it currently has around 30 employees who will join Ualá. So far, Ualá has issued more than two million loans in Argentina and the firm expects that number to grow with the Ceibo acquisition, Barbieri said.
"Higher inflation has made the cost of credit more expensive, but we have not noticed a slowdown in loan applications," he said. "Our number of non-performing loans is lower than expected."
Currently, Ualá is still working on the integration of Wilobank, whose purchase was approved by the Central Bank earlier this year. The CEO said the company expects to reach its break-even point in Argentina in 2023.
