Tala to Expand to Latin America

Kenyan fintech giant Tala is betting big on Latin America as it takes its innovative financial services to Guatemala, with plans to enter the Dominican Republic and Panama by the end of the year.

The company is utilising its powerful proprietary software, known as Tala in a Box, to rapidly expand into new markets.

This technology allows Tala to launch in multiple countries at once, giving millions of people access to essential financial products that many still lack despite having bank accounts.

“Through our experience serving the Mexican market, we have developed deep insights in the region and found that existing services still don’t serve the majority of the population,” Annstella Mumbi, general manager, Tala Kenya, said.

Tala aims to close this gap by combining the intelligence of a credit bureau, the payment systems of a fintech company, and the relationship expertise of a traditional bank.

The integrated approach is designed to make responsible financial access faster and more inclusive.

The firm has already served over 12 million customers globally, with two million joining this year alone. So far, Tala has disbursed about 7 billion dollars (Ksh 905.1 billion) in credit.

Mexico has been Tala’s biggest success story in the region. Over the past eight years, the company has provided 20 million loans to nearly four million customers, making it its fastest-growing market.

According to Mumbi, Tala’s growth is powered by technology built to meet the unique needs of underserved populations.

Tala in a Box enables rapid expansion by supporting everything from credit assessment to payments. It includes Tala InSight, the company’s patent-pending AI model, and advanced financial identity tools, as well as transfers, payments, and rails abstraction services.

Earlier this year, Tala reported a three-year revenue growth rate of 35 per cent, a sign of its growing influence in emerging markets.