The bank account that arrived inside a checkout

In Latin America, the first account is increasingly not at a bank.

Mercado Pago grew out of an online checkout into a financial account for nearly 78 million monthly users. In Argentina more than six in ten adults use it, in a country where most never held a credit card, and for many small businesses its credit line was the first they were ever offered.

The wallet attached to a checkout became the first formal account millions ever held.

In the Global South, the bank of record is being built from a checkout.

Source: MercadoLibre, Q4 2025.