Andréa Novais

Andréa Novais


The Brazil Business

Updated

Philip Taylor PT

Credit card acquirers in Brazil

Andréa Novais

Andréa Novais


The Brazil Business

Updated

Despite the opening of the credit card market in 2010, the acquirers’ sector still remains on the hands of two main players: Redecard and Cielo, respectively. However, as credit became more accessible in Brazil new players have come into this market. They are:

Redecard

Redecard was first established in 1970 through a joint-venture among Itaú, Unibanco and Citibank. It was initially named Credicard and it performed all the operations related to the franchiser, the credit card issuer and the acquiring.

Ranked as the major credit card acquirer in Brazil, Redecard currently works with the following cards:

  • BnB Clube
  • Cabal Vale
  • Coopercred
  • GreenCard
  • Nutricash
  • Planvale
  • Sapore Benefícios
  • Sodexo VR
  • Sorocred
  • Ticket
  • ValeCard
  • Verocheque
  • VB Benefícios (Valefacil)

Cielo

Created in 1995 as a joint-venture between Visa International and banks Bradesco, Banco do Brasil, Santander and Banco Nacional, along with Visa International, Visanet aimed to unify the commercial relations between all the commercial establishments affiliated to Visa in Brazil.

Due to the end of the exclusivity for Visa products in 2009, Visanet had its name changed to Cielo and in 2010, through regional partnerships, the acquirer started to work with the following cards:

  • Visa
  • MasterCard
  • American Express
  • Diners Club international
  • Elo
  • Good Card
  • JCB
  • Mais!
  • Visa Vale
  • Sodexo
  • Bônux CBA
  • Cabal Vale
  • Sapore
  • Policard
  • Verocheque
  • Credz
  • Greencard

Hipercard

Hipercard is a credit card with its own brand. Controlled by Itaú, Hipercard is popular in the Northeast and South of Brazil, with 470 thousand accredited establishments and more than 13 million cards issued in 2010.

It was initially created as a loyalty card for Bompreço grocery stores in Recife, PF, back in 1969. Its expansion started in Recife in 1991, when its name was changed to Hipercard and by 1993 it was fully operating as a credit card. This expansion turned Hipercard into the first store card to be accepted by other commercial establishments as a credit card.

In 2004, it was acquired by Unibanco, which now belongs to Itaú. Its expansion has reached all Brazilian regions and after its partnership with Redecard it is accepted in more than six thousand commercial establishments.

GetNet

GetNet is the pioneer of the virtual telephony recharge in Brazil and was also the first one to wi-fi and broadband sales terminals in the country. Established in 2003, it was in 2006 that GetNet created a correspondent bank solution, consultation to Serasa and the printing of boletos through its services, reaching 100.000 commercial establishments in 2007.

After creating its own processing platform for Visa and Mastercard credit cards, GetNet established a joint-venture with Santander, being the first company to enter the credit card acquirers market that used to belong exclusively to VisaNet (Cielo) and Redecard.

Online credit card acquirers

PagSeguro

PagSeguro is a tool for online payments. Offered by UOL, PagSeguro was ranked by the readers of InfoExame magazine as the website of the year in the e-commerce category.

It is estimated that 80 thousand online stores use PagSeguro in Brazil. The acquirer works with the following franchises:

  • Bradesco
  • Itaú
  • Banrisul
  • HSBC
  • Banco do Brasil
  • Visa
  • MasterCard
  • Diners
  • American Express
  • Elo
  • Hipercard
  • Aura
  • Oi Paggo

PayPal

As e-commerce grew in Brazil, PayPal saw in the country a great opportunity to expand its business. Even before operating in the country, PayPal was already being used by two million Brazilian companies for the acquisition of imported products.

Since its official establishment in Brazil in 2011, PayPal is present in 55 thousand establishments and closed the year of 2011 with 3 million clients and 30 thousand retailers. Among its clients are:

  • Vivo
  • Groupon
  • Yahoo
  • Correios
  • MasterCard

Braspag

Cielo’s branch operating on the online market, Braspag has 65% of the market share for online payment. It belonged to Grupo Silvio Santos until 2011, when it was acquired by Cielo. Among its clients are: