#18 - Ximena Aleman, Co-Founder & Co-CEO at Prometeo

Slice of Finance Team

12/23/2024

#18 - Ximena Aleman, Co-Founder & Co-CEO at Prometeo

Join us on this week's episode of the Slice of Finance podcast, hosted by Jared S. Taylor!

Our Guest: Ximena Aleman, Co-Founder & Co-CEO at Prometeo.

Key Highlights:

Prometeo’s Vision: Building the first unified banking API infrastructure across the Americas to simplify financial integration.
Brazil’s Open Banking Leadership: Insights on how PIX revolutionized real-time payments and open banking adoption.
Cross-Border Challenges: Addressing the gaps in real-time international payments and data flow.
The Future of Embedded Finance: Envisioning banking embedded into daily digital experiences within five years.
Prometeo’s Role in FinTech Innovation: Driving seamless financial transactions with API infrastructure.

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Introducing Prometeo: Connecting the Americas Through APIs

In this insightful podcast episode, Ximena Aleman, Co-Founder & Co-CEO of Prometeo, sheds light on her mission to revolutionize the financial infrastructure of Latin America and beyond. As the leading provider of API banking interoperability, Prometeo simplifies the complex banking systems of the Americas, enabling seamless financial transactions.

Ximena recounts her journey from building fintech startups to co-creating Prometeo, emphasizing the need for standardized banking APIs to bridge infrastructure gaps across diverse economies. Her passion stems from firsthand experiences of bottlenecks in Latin America's fintech sector, making her company’s mission both innovative and deeply personal.

Brazil as a Model for Open Banking Success

One of the episode’s highlights is Ximena's deep dive into Brazil's leadership in open banking, propelled by the Central Bank's PIX payment system. Launched in 2020, PIX has become a global benchmark for real-time payments, showcasing the power of cohesive infrastructure.

Ximena explains how Brazil achieved this milestone by fostering collaboration between regulators, banks, and fintech companies. The phased implementation strategy and inclusive governance ensured stakeholder alignment, a critical takeaway for other regions, including the United States.

Overcoming Cross-Border Payment Challenges

While Latin America advances in real-time domestic payments, cross-border transactions remain a significant hurdle. Ximena highlights the pressing need for real-time, cross-border payment rails to match the efficiency of in-country systems.

Prometeo is at the forefront of this effort, enabling data flow across countries and addressing the complexities of international banking. Ximena foresees this as the next major frontier for fintech innovation, offering immense opportunities for businesses and consumers alike.

The Future of Banking: Embedded and Seamless

Looking ahead, Ximena envisions a world where banking seamlessly integrates into everyday life. In five years, traditional banking terms and tools might fade, replaced by embedded financial experiences powered by APIs. Prometeo’s work ensures that the foundational infrastructure for this shift is ready.

As Ximena puts it, "The API layer will be there, and the real question will be what we can create over these APIs." Her belief in user-driven innovation underscores Prometeo’s commitment to developing practical solutions like bank account verification APIs that address real-world needs.

Conclusion

Ximena Aleman and Prometeo are not just building APIs; they’re constructing the highways of tomorrow's financial world. From enabling open banking adoption to tackling cross-border inefficiencies, Prometeo’s vision is reshaping how we experience and interact with money.

Listen to the full episode to dive deeper into the future of fintech in Latin America and beyond.