A Chilean, a British and four Mexican projects were selected as finalists of the Sandbox Challenge, the first financial innovation contest that encourages entrepreneurs from Latin America and other regions to test their business models in the Mexican financial system, through the Innovative Models scheme of the FinTech Law.

The Sandbox Challenge has comprehensive service packages from the main firms in the Mexican financial system, as well as participation in international entrepreneurship and innovation events.

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The finalists were announced jointly by Distrito Emprendedor, DAI, the British Embassy in Mexico and the National Banking and Securities Commission (CNBV), the committee said in a statement.

Selected among 80 projects presented, the finalists offer solutions applying innovative technologies such as blockchain and artificial intelligence for financial activities such as investment management, transmission of remittances and corporate debt issues.

The call

From February 2020, Sandbox Challenge invited entrepreneurs from Mexico, Latin America and other parts of the world who will have innovative projects to offer financial services based on emerging technologies and who want to test them in the Mexican financial system, through the „Innovative Models“ scheme contained in the FinTech Law.

This call seeks to support the best initiatives, with legal advice, business consulting and acceleration processes of the main firms in the sector, which will help them consolidate their business model to enter the Regulatory Sandbox of the CNBV.

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In this sense, firms specialized in business consulting, legal firms and acceleration programs will advise the finalists so that their project enters the scheme called Novel Model contemplated in the Fintech Law of Mexico.

Finalist Projects

Arca Financiera with digital trusts; Clinch with a digital platform to connect the supply and demand of currencies; and Ivy, which offers a mobile application to invest in an investment fund with gamification techniques, were chosen.

Also Oikos, which contemplates a marketplace for bank notes; Quantum, Chilean entrepreneurs that offer a platform for the emission, negotiation, compensation and liquidation of financial debt instruments; and Tokenise from the United Kingdom, which offers stock brokerage services, through the figure of a digital brokerage house, for the negotiation of national and foreign securities.

However, the new model to which they refer to, refers to that which carries out a financial Bitcoin Future activity that requires authorization, such as attracting resources from the general public, using technological means with different modalities than those existing in the market.

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In the event that the tests of the business model during the temporary authorization show successful results, the Authorized Company to operate the Novel Model may process, within the same period of temporary authorization, the definitive authorization of the legal figure under which it will operate definitively.

This scheme is known in the financial environment as „regulatory sandbox“, and is being implemented by some financial regulators in the world. In the case of Mexico, called Modelo Novedoso, it was implemented in order to accompany and supervise the undertakings that promote innovation in the provision of financial services through emerging technologies

Recently, a World Bank study indicates that the adoption of digital finance could increase the gross domestic product (GDP) in emerging economies by 6% by 2025.