Interactive Brokers Taps Paysafe’s SafetyPay for LatAm Account Funding

Automated global broker Interactive Brokers (IBKR) has integrated Paysafe’s SafetyPay to enable eligible IBKR clients in Latin America to fund their IBKR accounts directly from personal bank accounts in local currencies, IBKR said in a Tuesday (Aug. 18) press release.

This integration expands the number of funding methods available to IBKR clients in Latin America and simplifies the path from deposit to investing, according to the release.

Once they have funded their accounts, clients can use IBKR’s platform to access stocks, options, futures, currencies, bonds, funds and other products across more than 170 global markets, per the release.

“Funding an account should be straightforward,” Interactive Brokers CEO Milan Galik said in the release. “SafetyPay gives clients in Latin America a simple way to transfer funds from their local bank accounts and quickly access the global markets available through IBKR.”

SafetyPay is a non-card payment method with a bank network that enables online cash payments, bank transfers and cross-border transactions for a global market of consumers, according to its website.

Paysafe announced in August 2021 that it agreed to acquire SafetyPay for $441 million in cash and that the SafetyPay team would become part of Paysafe’s eCash and online banking solutions team.

At the time, SafetyPay enabled eCommerce transactions at over 180,000 cash collection points through open banking and eCash offerings primarily in 11 Latin American countries and Europe, serving almost 300 merchants in travel, entertainment and digital goods.

Paysafe completed its acquisition of SafetyPay in January 2022, saying the deal further strengthened Paysafe’s strategic foothold in Latin America, building on its acquisition of Peruvian payments platform PagoEfectivo, and set Paysafe up to be the leading open banking and eCash solutions provider in Latin America.

Paysafe announced in February that FuturePay Global Limited, provider of a platform that connects global merchants’ checkouts to multiple payment solutions, supported the entry of its payments platform into Latin America by integrating SafetyPay. The company said the addition of SafetyPay’s suite of local payment methods would tailor FuturePay’s platform for Latin America.

Esteban Sarubbi, head of Latin America at Paysafe, said in the announcement: “With SafetyPay’s bank transfer, online cash and other local payment options specifically tailored to Latin American consumers, the partnership will enable FuturePay’s merchant customers to reduce friction at their checkouts, increase customer conversions and ultimately grow and future-proof their businesses.”