The Ecuadorian fintech Kushki received approval from national authorities to become the country’s first payment aggregator. This means that Kushki has achieved a new status to facilitate electronic payments:
“The Central Bank of Ecuador has designated us as the first payment platform company to acquire aggregator status. Today we are already certified, approved within the Ecuadorian market to provide services in this aggregation model,” Javier Castro, Kushki’s Vice President for Colombia and Ecuador, explained.
Kushki is a paytech that connects Latin America through digital payments. The fintech helps businesses reduce the cost and complexity of digital transactions while improving acceptance rates and reducing fraud. It achieved unicorn status last June after announcing an extension of its Series B round, which closed at $186M.
The startup will now be allowed to operate as an intermediary between banks and businesses. This will help companies invest more time and effort in improving their business. Without payment aggregators, companies have to establish two relationships: one with the commercial bank, and one with the payment platform.
Now, companies can contact Kushi directly, which allows them to speed up their operations. Kushki will be responsible for the relationship with banks and for administrative issues that companies previously solved by themselves.
This is also thanks to the Internal Revenue Service’s authorization for payment aggregators to be withholding agents. Before this resolution, only banks were authorized to withhold credit and debit card taxes. When payment aggregators become withholders, companies can have more agile collection processes.