Mauricio Sánchez, head of Plin, on the future of the ‘plineo’ in dollars: “It is always a possibility”

Plin is a mobile application developed in Peru, which allows you to make money transfers quickly and securely between different banks, such as BBVA, Scotiabank and Interbank. It is one of the most used digital wallets in the country, with millions of users who ‘line’ all hours of the day.

Bringing innovation to the banking sector, Plin is used by 11 entities and has more than 8.5 million users. The Republic contacted Mauricio Sánchez, head of Plinwho told us about the expectations of the digital wallet for 2024, including the long-awaited transfer in dollars through the application.

—Do you expect the number of Plin users to grow greatly in 2024? To as?

—2023 was the beginning of interoperability between payment solutions, wallets, and other financial entities that generated a larger and more inclusive payment ecosystem, with very important growth for Plin and for the industry at the user level and, above all, at the use and recurrence level. In addition; Putting it into figures, we grew more than 30% in users and, in transactions, we increased more than three times compared to 2022. By 2024, despite the fact that the digital payments industry has achieved greater penetration at the user level and interoperability, is a reality, the expectation of growth in Plin At an absolute level it continues to be important and is expected to be very similar to what we had in 2023, due to the entry of new entities and the greater acceptance of people for this type of solutions that generate financial inclusion. Likewise, it is also expected to continue growing aggressively in the use and recurrence of Plin to pay, in the case of people, or collect, in the case of micro-businesses.

—What new features do you plan to launch for Plin in 2024?

—Most of the functionalities that we already know in the market, such as payment for services, recharges, exchange rates, credits, etc., are currently offered from the application of the different entities as part of their service portfolio and where Plin It is part of it. With respect to functionalities that are part of the experience of Plinwe are working on new features that will be important to continue increasing the use of the app and make the daily lives of our users easier.

—Many digital wallets implemented their virtual store service for users. Does Plin have any plans to create one in his application?

—The business model of Plin is to be a solution that works within the application of each financial institution, with the objective that it continues to enhance its application with more services and benefits for its users. Likewise, having a recurring use solution within the financial institution’s application generates more digitalization opportunities with the benefits that this entails. That said, and due to the benefits explained above, it is not in the plan to have your own application. In that sense, the proposal for a virtual store is not part of the current scheme of Plin.

—A capacity that is highly requested of Plin and its competition, Yape, is to be able to transfer money in dollars. Will it be possible to do this in the future?

-At the moment, Plin It is associated with the account in soles decided by the client within their financial institution. In the short term, we do not have it defined. However, being the dollar a currency that is widely accepted and used in Peru, is always a possibility.

—Do you think that one of the strongest points of Plin is the security it provides to the user? For example, every day there are reports of scams through Yape, this does not happen with Plin. How is the security they manage to avoid scams?

—A very important point for all users is security and it is precisely also one of the main reasons why Plin It is a solution within the application of each financial institution. Let us remember that the different financial entities are regulated by the SBS, which requires them, as a financial entity, to have very high security standards such as cybersecurity tools and protocols.