Exclusive-TikTok seeks Brazil fintech license to offer credit

By Marcela Ayres

BRASILIA, March 31 (Reuters) - Social media level TikTok, controlled by China's ByteDance, is seeking support from the Brazilian cardinal slope to run arsenic ‌a lending and payments fintech, according to 2 radical with nonstop cognition ‌of the matter.

The sources, who requested anonymity due to the fact that the plans are confidential, said TikTok has applied for 2 ​licenses with the regulator. One would let it to run arsenic an "electronic wealth issuer," offering prepaid accounts for users to clasp balances, person funds and marque payments wrong its app.

The 2nd licence would marque it a "direct recognition company," a benignant of fintech that cannot instrumentality ‌public deposits but tin lend ⁠its ain superior oregon enactment arsenic a level connecting borrowers and lenders.

If approved, the determination would let TikTok to connection a suite of ⁠basic fiscal services to Brazilians, moving a playbook popularized by Nubank, present the country's largest integer bank.

TikTok did not respond to requests for comment. It was not wide if the ​company aims ​to connection a caller scope of services oregon ​simply enactment e-commerce and monetization connected ‌its platform.

Brazil's cardinal slope besides declined to comment.

ByteDance executives, including Global Payments caput Liao Baohua, met cardinal slope main Gabriel Galipolo successful Brasilia earlier connected Tuesday, according to his nationalist calendar.

ByteDance launched Douyin Pay successful China successful 2021 to enactment e-commerce connected the Chinese mentation of TikTok, competing with established outgo tools specified arsenic Alipay and WeChat ‌Pay.

TikTok besides sought a payments licence successful Indonesia successful ​2023, but was barred from processing transactions straight ​on its level precocious that year, ​leading it to question section partnerships.

The Brazil propulsion marks different measurement ‌in TikTok's determination enlargement plans aft it ​said precocious past twelvemonth ​it would put much than 200 cardinal reais ($38.4 billion) successful a information halfway successful the country, a marketplace known for precocious societal media penetration.

TikTok had 131 ​million users aged 18 and ‌above successful Brazil successful precocious 2025, with ads reaching 80% of each adults ​in the country, according to probe steadfast DataReportal.

($1 = 5.21 reais)

(Reporting by Marcela ​AyresEditing by Brad Haynes and Nick Zieminski)