Brazilian FinTech Inter Gets Green Light to Begin Banking in US

Brazil-based digital bank Inter has gotten regulatory approval to do business in the U.S.

Inter has received permission from the Federal Reserve and Florida Office of Financial Regulation to establish a state‑licensed international banking branch in Florida, the company said in a news release Friday (Jan. 16).

“This milestone strengthens our position as a global platform and enables us to deliver even more value to our clients across borders,” said Inter CEO João Vitor Menin. “The U.S. branch allows us to scale our offering, deliver greater value to our clients, and strengthen Inter’s position in the international financial system.”

The approval gives Inter permission to open a branch in Miami, which the company says will help it expand its cross-border capabilities while widening its range of financial services for consumers and businesses.

The company said its U.S. branch will allow Inter to, among other things, offer regulated credit and banking products aimed at both U.S. and non-U.S. residents and support international businesses operating in the U.S. “with compliant, technology-driven financial services.”

Inter noted that it was Brazil’s first digital bank and is one of the country’s top-ranked institutions in outbound remittances, according to the Central Bank of Brazil. It also accounts for nearly 10% of the payments on the country’s P2P payments network Pix.

“As Inter expands its presence in the United States, the company continues advancing its mission to create a world where interactions between people generate more value,” the release added.

PYMNTS examined the popularity of Pix in a report last year upon the system’s fifth anniversary, noting that what began as an effort “to modernize the national payments infrastructure has moved beyond any initial peer-to-peer activity.”

Government statistics as of late October showed there were nearly 7.3 billion Pix transactions during that month, up from 5.7 billion in the same period during 2024.

This momentum, the report said, is in keeping with larger shifts in consumer digital behavior documented in PYMNTS research.

The PYMTNS Intelligence report “How the World Does Digital: A Global Benchmark Of Consumer Digital Transformation” found that Brazil was the most digitally engaged country across a range of activities from banking to booking travel.

Inter’s U.S. expansion comes weeks after a report that PicPay, the Brazilian mobile banking and instant-payments provider, had filed for an American initial public offering (IPO).