Where AI is already being applied
LatinPyme places the discussion against a rapidly changing regional payments market. The article points to the expansion of Pix in Brazil, the digitization of remittances in Mexico and increased stablecoin activity across Latin America as evidence of the scale and pace of that change.
It then outlines several practical applications for AI in payments. AI-supported risk assessments can help financial platforms evaluate businesses with limited banking histories. Predictive technology can help digital merchants anticipate a customer’s preferred way to pay. AI can also support faster international transfers, strengthen fraud monitoring and automate checks against local regulatory requirements.
For SMEs, LatinPyme argues, these applications could provide better access to digital credit, stronger risk controls and a more practical route into international markets.
Rapyd’s perspective: AI must improve access
Puentes brings the discussion back to accessibility. His central point is that AI can make payment capabilities that were once largely available to major corporations more accessible to smaller businesses.
“Artificial intelligence is democratizing digital payments. At Rapyd, we see how small and medium-sized businesses can access solutions that were once reserved for large corporations. AI allows a business in Bogotá or Lima to process international payments with the same security and efficiency as a multinational,” Puentes said. (Translated from Spanish.)
He also identifies interoperability as the main challenge. The value of AI depends on whether businesses can connect local payment methods with global platforms without introducing new barriers.
This is particularly important in Latin America, where payment preferences, regulations and levels of financial access differ significantly from one country to another. Technology may improve individual processes, but businesses still need those processes to work across local and international payment ecosystems.
For a growing SME, the practical value of AI lies in whether it improves the way payments are accepted, monitored and moved across borders. That can include evaluating risk more efficiently, managing local requirements and reaching customers or business partners beyond the company’s home market.
The LatinPyme coverage presents AI as part of a broader change in the region’s payments environment. Rapyd’s contribution adds an important qualification: to create meaningful opportunities for smaller businesses, AI must help connect local payment behavior with the systems that support global commerce.
Read the original Spanish-language feature in LatinPyme.