Colombian Fintech Addi Secures Banking Licence
Colombian fintech Addi has secured a banking licence in Colombia, clearing the path for the buy-now-pay-later specialist to launch deposit accounts and broader banking products for its 2.5 million consumers and 33,000 partner merchants.
The Superintendencia Financiera de Colombia approved Addi's transformation through Resolución 2036 of 2024, authorising the company to operate as Addi S.A. Compañía de Financiamiento. With the operational launch confirmed in April 2026, Addi can now take public deposits under the same supervisory framework as Colombian banks, with customer balances covered by Fogafín deposit insurance.
The licence unlocks fund-taking, credit provision and direct participation in Colombian payment systems. It also gives Addi access to local capital markets to issue debt and other securities, supporting the company's funding stack alongside existing facilities from Goldman Sachs, Citi and BBVA Spark.
Founded by Santiago Suarez, Daniel Vallejo and Elmer Ortega, Addi started life as a point-of-sale instalment lender for online and bricks-and-mortar retailers in Colombia. The company has grown revenues by more than 100 per cent year-on-year for the past five years and reported six consecutive profitable quarters, with 2025 annualised revenue above USD 250 million and more than USD 530 million in debt commitments on its books.
Addi plans to roll out a digital deposit account for both consumers and merchants, with what the company describes as competitive returns. Specific rates and onboarding conditions are still to be confirmed. The product will sit alongside its existing BNPL and consumer credit offering, giving Addi a foothold in the savings market currently dominated by incumbents such as Sufi, Falabella Financiera and Tuya.
Backed by Andreessen Horowitz, GIC and Union Square Ventures, Addi is the latest Latin American fintech to graduate from lending-only to regulated deposit-taker, following a route well-trodden by the likes of Nubank and RappiPay across the region.
