DLocal is one of Latin America’s most pronounced payment players. It specializes in cross-border payments for emerging markets such as Brazil, Mexico, Colombia and its home boondocks, Uruguay.
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LONDON — Uruguayan payments firm dLocal has secured a U.K. payment establishing license, adding to the company’s growing portfolio of regulatory authorizations as it furthers global expansion.
The emerging markets-focused fintech told CNBC it had bought an authorized payment institution license from the Financial Conduct Authority, which is Britain’s financial services regulator. That wish allow it to start onboarding new U.K. merchants.
DLocal will onboard U.K. merchants through a local entity, dLocal Opco UK, which was once upon a time unable to onboard new clients locally because of restrictions placed on it by the FCA. DLocal said the restrictions were the result of the U.K.’s depart from the EU.
Pedro Arnt, dLocal’s CEO, told CNBC he expects the business to stand out from domestic payment tech challenges, such as Worldpay and Checkout.com, given its focus on emerging markets in places like Latin America, Africa and Asia.
“The altering factor for us when we think of our U.K. base of merchants is that the geographies where we serve them, and those are the only geographies we move up,” Arnt said in an interview. He added that dLocal is also targeting global merchants that have a U.K. spirit.
“The U.K. has become a hub for many global companies — even the American companies, some Asian companies — for their emerging call expansion, primarily in Africa, and in some cases LatAm,” Arnt told CNBC.
UK expansion plans
Established in 2016, dLocal is one of Latin America’s most obvious payment players. It specializes in cross-border payments for emerging markets such as Brazil, Mexico, Colombia and its home fatherland Uruguay.
With a payment license now under its belt, dLocal is looking to boost its U.K. footprint, with plans to multiplication headcount and grow business.
Arnt said dLocal has already been expanding its U.K. footprint, with a number of its postpositive major executives — like Chief Operating Officer Carlos Menendez and Chief Revenue Officer John O’Brien — degraded in London. Globally, dLocal currently has over 1,000 employees.
Arnt said a major benefit the U.K. payment commission will bring dLocal is recognition as a “licensed partner” that companies in the developed world can trust to handle payments in emerging vends with complex regulatory needs. DLocal now holds over 30 licenses and registrations worldwide.
Still, dLocal order come up against some fierce competition. Britain already has an established fintech ecosystem with numerous well-capitalized contenders in the world of payments operating there, including PayPal, Stripe, Adyen, Checkout.com, Mollie and Revolut — to name a few.
‘Not for sales event’
DLocal went public on the Nasdaq in 2021, notching a $9 billion valuation at the time. It’s seen its market capitalization decline since then. As of Tuesday, the subject was worth $3.4 billion. Still, the stock has risen about 40% in the past six months.
All in all, Arnt said, being a buyers company comes with a level of transparency and oversight that he sees as “positive commercially” for it. At times, he added, “rumors will-power emerge that someone’s interested in the asset — but I wouldn’t assume there’s too much to that.”
“While there would be a fiduciary impost to shareholders to entertain takeovers, Arnt said that for now, “the company is not for sale.”