Brazil’s neo banks embrace games theory
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Brazil’s neo banks embrace games theory

Digital banks look to online games to help drive retention.

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Illustration: iStock

Digital banks in Brazil are beginning to introduce gamification to customer accounts to boost activation rates as the industry’s battle moves to winning market share from competitors.

In Brazil it is very common among the public to have four or five checking accounts.

"It’s kind of crazy,” says Marco Chain, banking director at Banco Pan in São Paulo. “So banks are really working to increase engagement and competing to be the primary account. At Pan, we are using the same techniques that mobile games use to drive engagement – creating both the aspect of fun and the challenge of evolving up ‘levels’.”

This focus on the gamification of digital banking is expected to increase as the market hits saturation and coverage of the Brazilian population means less space for organic expansion. In September, João Menin, chief executive of Banco Inter, told Euromoney that the challenge for his bank is moving beyond new customer acquisition.

“Instead of hunting, let’s go farm,” Menin told Euromoney.