MercadoLibre is one of the largest companies in Latin America. It runs two businesses. Mercado Libre is the region’s largest online marketplace, and Mercado Pago is its fintech arm. Osvaldo G
MercadoLibre is one of the largest companies in Latin America. It runs two businesses. Mercado Libre is the region’s largest online marketplace, and Mercado Pago is its fintech arm.
Osvaldo Gimenez has been Mercado Pago’s president since 2020 and ran its operations from 2004. He joined TheStreet Roundtable at Money20/20 in Las Vegas (Oct. 18-21) to share where the fintech arm is growing most today.
Mercado Pago was originally built to process payments for the marketplace. Gimenez says that is now a small part of its business.
“The vast majority is outside of Mercado Libre,” he said.
The numbers back him. Mercado Pago processed $101 billion in total payment volume in Q2 2026, up 56% from a year earlier and its first quarter above $100 billion. Merchant acquiring, payments processed for businesses rather than on the marketplace itself, reached $64.1 billion, up 44% in dollar terms.
Parent company MercadoLibre’s revenue passed $10 billion for the first time in the quarter, up 50% from a year earlier, while net income fell 11% to $466 million.
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Gimenez says most of that outside volume is being driven by sales in physical stores. Mercado Pago reached 1.4 million active devices in Mexico, which the company says equals all of the country’s incumbent banks combined.
Fintech monthly active users rose 30% to 88 million in the quarter, with Brazil up 38% and Mexico up 45%, both accelerating versus their 2025 pace.
Mercado Pago’s assets under management reached $23 billion in Q2, up 68% from a year earlier, and the average user now holds $264 on the platform, up 29%. Gimenez says users come for yields that are always spendable.
In Brazil, balances earn up to 105% of the CDI benchmark and savings pots earn up to 120%, according to the company. In Mexico, it advertises returns of up to 13% a year.
The credit portfolio grew 75% to more than $16 billion, while the 15-to-90-day nonperforming loan ratio stood at 7%.
“Many, many millions of people did not have access to credit,” Gimenez said. “So in many cases we have to take risks.”
Gimenez says Mercado Pago is pursuing banking licenses in multiple jurisdictions, including Argentina and Mexico. A full license would let it receive payroll deposits, which only banks can do.
In Argentina, the company today is regulated as a payment service provider. That status lets it hold user funds but not lend them out. Mercado Pago said in May 2025 it would apply for a full banking license. With it, Mercado Pago could lend customer deposits instead of raising funding in capital markets at higher rates.
Juan Curutchet, a director of Argentina’s central bank, said in September the license would be approved before year-end. It would be the country’s first bank license granted from scratch in more than six years. Argentine outlet iproup reported in October that the company has secured the trademark Mercado Pago Biz, the expected name for the bank.
In Mexico, Mercado Pago operates as an electronic payments institution. In September 2024 it applied to become a multiple banking institution, Mexico’s full commercial banking charter.
That would let it offer savings and checking accounts, CDs, commercial loans and mortgages. The application is still pending, and the company has said it believes it is getting closer.
Investors have taken notice. Michael Burry bought MELI shares after the stock fell on Q1 earnings, pointing to its credit buildout.
The marketplace still feeds Mercado Pago its users, but the money increasingly moves everywhere else.
