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Conversations with Tyler / episode intelligence

Pierpaolo Barbieri on Latin American FinTech

19 May 2021 25 published claims 2 attributable people
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Speakers in the public record

Pierpaolo BarbieriTyler Cowen

Claim mix

belief 12recommendation 4prediction 3evaluation 3commitment 2preference 1

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25 published records

02 / recommendation

Likes El secreto de sus ojos.

“It is a strong contender, but I would think El secreto de sus ojos, The Secret in Their Eyes, is my favorite film about Argentina because of what it says about the very difficult period of modernization, and in particular, the horrors of the last military regime that marked us so much that it still defines our politics 50 years since.”
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05 / belief

Brazil is at the heart of MERCOSUR, which should have become a European Union for Latin America and never did, never embraced free markets in the way that the free trader of the Americas would have done, but Chavez and Lula and Kirchner stopped it, I think negatively affecting the whole region back in 2004, 2005 when Chavez famously said, “ALCA, ALCA, al carajo.

“Brazil is at the heart of MERCOSUR, which should have become a European Union for Latin America and never did, never embraced free markets in the way that the free trader of the Americas would have done, but Chavez and Lula and Kirchner stopped it, I think negatively affecting the whole region back in 2004, 2005 when Chavez famously said, “ALCA, ALCA, al carajo.”
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07 / belief

I think for a lot of countries, that will be true. But you have to consider the weight of Chinese trade for certain countries, and how Chinese trade for certain countries in Southeast Asia and also in Latin America is so important to at least certain countries driven by ideology, or just the need to diversify their future options, would choose to at least leave the option open of doing some transactions in this new currency, and not entirely depend on the US dollar.

“I think for a lot of countries, that will be true. But you have to consider the weight of Chinese trade for certain countries, and how Chinese trade for certain countries in Southeast Asia and also in Latin America is so important to at least certain countries driven by ideology, or just the need to diversify their future options, would choose to at least leave the option open of doing some transactions in this new currency, and not entirely depend on the US dollar.”
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10 / belief

I think he was the right personality at the right time but, ultimately, overrated as a political leader, and my Macronista friends will have to forgive me for that.

“I think he was the right personality at the right time but, ultimately, overrated as a political leader, and my Macronista friends will have to forgive me for that.”
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11 / belief

I think that, in retrospect, Macri would say that he didn’t seek enough of a wider backing for the kind of reforms that he needed to enact — like Spain did in 1975, if you will, or Chile did after Pinochet — having some basic agreements with the opposition that would outlive a defeat in the elections.

“I think that, in retrospect, Macri would say that he didn’t seek enough of a wider backing for the kind of reforms that he needed to enact — like Spain did in 1975, if you will, or Chile did after Pinochet — having some basic agreements with the opposition that would outlive a defeat in the elections.”
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13 / belief

I personally believe that that’s what also Argentina should be doing. That’s part of why I did Ualá and started Ualá here, because I think that Argentina needs a digital soy.

“I personally believe that that’s what also Argentina should be doing. That’s part of why I did Ualá and started Ualá here, because I think that Argentina needs a digital soy.”
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14 / belief

Whereas learning from history, I think that in order to craft the best team, you have to have them fully aligned with you, and give them the power to really execute on what they know about.

“Whereas learning from history, I think that in order to craft the best team, you have to have them fully aligned with you, and give them the power to really execute on what they know about.”
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16 / recommendation

That means that they want to sell it through you and not someone else. That should help you keep staying ahead of the game and, in the steady state, diversify away from having an 80 percent revenue-from-lending institution to a 20 percent revenue-from-lending institution, which I think is also, from a stability perspective, smarter in a place like Latin America where, historically speaking, you have a lot of potential macroeconomic negative effects.

“That means that they want to sell it through you and not someone else. That should help you keep staying ahead of the game and, in the steady state, diversify away from having an 80 percent revenue-from-lending institution to a 20 percent revenue-from-lending institution, which I think is also, from a stability perspective, smarter in a place like Latin America where, historically speaking, you have a lot of potential macroeconomic negative effects.”
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17 / prediction

I think that lending eventually becomes 20 percent to 30 percent of your revenue share. That’s what we project five years from now, but there are other fintechs that rely more heavily on that because they don’t have a full ecosystem.

“I think that lending eventually becomes 20 percent to 30 percent of your revenue share. That’s what we project five years from now, but there are other fintechs that rely more heavily on that because they don’t have a full ecosystem.”
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19 / evaluation

When we launched Ualá in Argentina, people used to sell Netflix subscriptions on our eBay, which is Mercado Libre. That’s outrageous because Netflix prices their services to be freely available to anyone in these geographies for $4 or $5 a month, and yet they couldn’t access it because they didn’t have a payment mechanism.

“When we launched Ualá in Argentina, people used to sell Netflix subscriptions on our eBay, which is Mercado Libre. That’s outrageous because Netflix prices their services to be freely available to anyone in these geographies for $4 or $5 a month, and yet they couldn’t access it because they didn’t have a payment mechanism.”
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20 / evaluation

The real difference in Mexico is that 70 percent of people are, as you said, outside of the system. They don’t have a means of payment that isn’t cash, and that’s one of the real tragedies of Mexico because 86 percent to 87 percent of transactions, even after COVID, take place in cash.

“The real difference in Mexico is that 70 percent of people are, as you said, outside of the system. They don’t have a means of payment that isn’t cash, and that’s one of the real tragedies of Mexico because 86 percent to 87 percent of transactions, even after COVID, take place in cash.”
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22 / recommendation

If, say, we have a way to connect Ualá in Mexico to an American financial institution, then we can net out the transactions and do one transaction at the end of every day because we have a protocol of transfer so that, instead of doing a SWIFT each time an individual sends money to another individual or a firm sends money to another firm, we can just net it out at the end of the day with one financial partner.

“If, say, we have a way to connect Ualá in Mexico to an American financial institution, then we can net out the transactions and do one transaction at the end of every day because we have a protocol of transfer so that, instead of doing a SWIFT each time an individual sends money to another individual or a firm sends money to another firm, we can just net it out at the end of the day with one financial partner.”
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23 / commitment

When you have the better people, the best people — and I’ve done that in a way that is different from most Latin American founders because over 15 percent of the company is owned by their management team, and that excludes me, but that can only be born out of the humility that comes from the idea that I cannot do it myself.

“When you have the better people, the best people — and I’ve done that in a way that is different from most Latin American founders because over 15 percent of the company is owned by their management team, and that excludes me, but that can only be born out of the humility that comes from the idea that I cannot do it myself.”
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24 / evaluation

” Finally, if people are willing to deploy the capital, I think Latin America is generally grossly underinvested outside government bonds and the energy sector.

“” Finally, if people are willing to deploy the capital, I think Latin America is generally grossly underinvested outside government bonds and the energy sector.”
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25 / prediction

In theory, yes, but you could potentially see a scenario where there’s a divergence in price. It’s not necessarily my base case, but I think what they’re trying to do — and this is less important for the US dollar because it’s freely convertible — is the ability to decide who you open with and how you open, and meanwhile push an alternative way to denominate international trade that is not dollar dependent.

“In theory, yes, but you could potentially see a scenario where there’s a divergence in price. It’s not necessarily my base case, but I think what they’re trying to do — and this is less important for the US dollar because it’s freely convertible — is the ability to decide who you open with and how you open, and meanwhile push an alternative way to denominate international trade that is not dollar dependent.”
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