Bancoagrícola, Accion, and Mastercard have announced their partnership in order to promote digital banking services in El Salvador through Nequi.
Following this announcement, Bancoagrícola, Accion, and the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth (the Center) will focus on providing clients with a wider range of responsible financial services to low-income clients in the country.
This process will include the option to receive international remittances through the use of its digital banking and payments platform Nequi.
More information on the Bancoagrícola x Accion x Mastercard partnership
According to the official press release, Accion is expected to work with Bancoagrícola to develop Nequi into a digital ecosystem for everyday financial management. At the same time, through the partnership, Bancoagrícola and Accion are set to focus on identifying new use cases to drive balance retention and wallet activity, such as making regular payments like school fees and local merchant transactions. The Center is expected to support Accion Advisory in using transaction data in order to develop alternative credit scoring models for people who remain invisible to the formal economy.
Furthermore, this visibility is essential for individuals, 70% of whom use cash on a daily basis for all their transactions. In addition, with 87% of adults in the country owning a mobile phone and Bancoagrícola serving about one-third of the country’s total population, the overall capability to receive international remittances via Nequi without having to cash out can optimise the process of closing the financial gap for small business owners, gig workers, and other underserved groups in the region of El Salvador.
At the moment, remittances are sent by individuals who are outside the country to their families and friends in El Salvador. Remittance payments are El Salvador’s largest source of income, accounting for 24% of the country’s GDP, with more than 90% of these payments being sent from the United States. At the same time, according to the country’s Banco Central de Reserva, US-El Salvador remittances increased by 16% from January to May this year compared to the same period in 2024.
When remittance money arrives in the region of El Salvador, it is often accessed in cash by recipients, typically through the use of Bancoagrícola’s extensive branch network. Furthermore, each month, around 440,000 young adults and small business owners receive funds through Bancoagrícola, yet many do so without going through the process of engaging with complementary digital services that could support their financial well-being. New users do not need to be a client of the bank. With this in mind, the collaboration will give previously unbanked people the possibility to join Nequi in order to receive remittances, saving them time and reducing the requirement to withdraw cash to pay regular expenses. Furthermore, through the process of using Nequi to manage their finances, clients can build a credit profile to start a small business or get access to other services like savings.
