A High-Performing Payment Platform, Addressing the Needs of a Changing Workforce: PMI Americas

“We plan to leverage our local money transmitters’ licenses, plus our full stack of local value-added services to help beneficiaries get more bang for their buck.”

PMI Americas is a leading financial technology company focused on payment solutions and business innovation. PMI, headquartered in Mexico, provides services throughout LATAM, the U.S, and Europe, from local offices in Mexico City, Santiago de Chile, Bogotá, Lima, Montevideo, and London.

PMI’s technology portfolio includes a global money transfer gateway, a software for e-commerce and online marketplace, a PCI Level 1 payment gateway, an Enterprise Resource Planning and data management system, and an API based pay-in and pay-out cross-border solution; all of which provide global and local businesses a one-stop-shop to consolidate and optimize their financial service solutions.

The Silicon Review contacted Alex Pereira, founder and CEO of PMI Americas, who spoke about how the company is making a difference in this segment and plans to stay at the forefront. Below is an excerpt.

Head to Head with Alex Pereira, Founder & CEO of PMI Americas

Q. From your perspective, how is the industry you serve currently evolving? And where does PMI Americas stand at the moment?

PMI Americas is part of a rapidly evolving ecosystem related to payments and financial services. This sector has been going through a “digital” transformation for a few years, but when Covid-19 hit, digital payments were accelerated to new heights. This was happening at a global level, but one of the continents with the most opportunity for a digital transition was Latin America. Mainly because it is one of the continents with the lowest banked population, for instance, in Mexico, only about 38% of the population have bank accounts. These are mostly cash-centric economies, and Covid-19 created a massive wall between traditional retailers and their cash customers. Fintechs all over quickly saw this unique opportunity, and sprung to action, offering digital wallets, neobank accounts, faster online payments, and a whole suite of products that banks would never offer. PMI Americas initially focused on a large sector of unemployed LATAM professionals, who because of the pandemic had lost their office jobs. Yet, their skills were in high demand elsewhere. Online “gig” and “remote” work platforms such as Fiverr, 99 Designs, Workana, Megatek, and many more gave anyone the chance to continue working. PMI Americas saw an opportunity to help these folks get paid faster, better, and cheaper.

Q. What strategies does PMI Americas implement to minimize costs and maximize customer satisfaction?

To minimize costs, we mostly avoid having intermediaries; we run our own local office, with our local money transfer license in most of the territories we operate in. This allows us to offer very competitive rates. Also, to streamline our global operations, most of our back office is based out of Mexico, and only have to hire key positions in our other local offices. 

Q. How does PMI Americas empower independent workers throughout Latin America?

We offer independent workers much better rates than the alternative options. Additionally, we go the extra mile to provide them with many value-added services such as pay advance, local bill payments, cell phone top-up, debit card issuance, and extend discounts through our local partnerships.

Q. That’s not all PMI Americas does. What are its other focus areas?

Our focus started in the B2B cross-border payments; it has been great to watch this sector grow. This year we are entering the C2C payments, also known as money remittances, where just LATAM is a USD$100 billion a year sector; $54 billion into Mexico alone. We plan to leverage our local money transmitters’ licenses, plus our full stack of local value-added services to help beneficiaries get more bang for their buck.

Q. No doubt PMI Americas is charting new territories in this segment. Given how frequently circumstances change, what plans for transformation are you pursuing to remain relevant now and in the future?

Our goal this year is to expand our services into Central America and the Caribbean, where we would then cover pretty much all the major corridors in LATAM. Our objective is to become one of the premier options for cross-border payments in LATAM for both B2B and C2C remittances.

Q. How do you plan to counter challenges that you think PMI Americas might face in the next five years?

I think the biggest challenge for fintech, in general, is working carefully within the local regulatory framework. Technology is moving faster than regulation, so we have to be very in tune and compliant with local laws. That is why we choose to become a fully regulated and compliant entity. We feel we can both work within the regulation parameters and bring innovation through technology to heighten the quality of the products for the users.

Alex Pereira | Founder & CEO

Alex Pereira has vast experience in global financial services, having collaborated with several large corporations to implement cross-border payments solutions for remote workers, freelancers, and outsourced staff. He founded PMI Americas in 2019 to build around this experience and expand payment innovation across LATAM.

“Our objective is to become one of the premier options for cross-border payments in LATAM for both B2B and C2C remittances.”