When someone says “I work at a fintech”, the reality is that they could be doing radically different things: issuing cards, lending money, selling insurance, advising on investments, providing infrastructure to other fintechs, or selling compliance software. The word fintech is such a wide umbrella that it confuses more than it clarifies.
This guide breaks down the 8 main fintech categories with real examples from the Mexican market, business models, typical legal figure, key metrics, and the typical challenges of each. It is reading material for executives, investors, founders, regulators and consultants who want to understand the sector with surgical precision, not as a slogan.
1. Payments and transfers
The largest and most mature category in the ecosystem. Includes processors, aggregators, digital wallets, merchant payment-acceptance solutions, and international transfer platforms. The main business model is per-transaction fees (typically 1% to 4%), although several diversify with additional services (merchant lending, inventory management, reconciliation).
Examples in Mexico: Mercado Pago, Clip, Conekta, OpenPay, Stripe Mexico, Spin by Oxxo, NetPay, Banwire. Many operate as IFPE under the Fintech Law; others as aggregators authorized by card brands (Visa, Mastercard) without necessarily being ITFs.
Key metrics an executive should track: total payment volume (TPV), transaction count, take rate (effective margin), decline rate, fraud rate, settlement time to merchant, merchant NPS.
Typical challenges: fee wars eroding margins; pressure to settle faster (T+0); fraud growing with every UX innovation; strict customer-funds segregation; AML compliance and UIF reporting.
2. Digital lending
Platforms that originate, evaluate, and disburse credit using data models. Can be consumer credit (payroll-deduction, free use), SME (factoring, term loans, revolving lines), or specific verticals (auto, mortgage, agriculture). Business model: spread between rate charged and funding cost, adjusted for credit losses.
Examples in Mexico: Konfio (SME credit), Credijusto (corporate lending), Aperíate (payroll credit), Kueski (express consumer credit), Crediclub. Almost all operate as SOFOM (Multiple-Object Financial Society), not as ITFs.
Key metrics: total portfolio, monthly origination, average rate, NPL ratio, expected loss, funding cost, ROE, time to approval, approval rate.
Typical challenges: scoring-model quality (the good ones distinguish payers from non-payers); access to competitive funding; maintaining credit discipline under growth pressure; strict KYC/AML compliance; professional collections without crossing into practices CONDUSEF sanctions.
3. Neobanks and digital banking
Companies offering a 100% digital banking experience: accounts, cards, transfers, savings, and increasingly credit products. They compete with traditional banks via modern UX, low or zero fees, and onboarding in minutes. Their business model combines card interchange, premium service fees, credit interest (when applicable), and eventually cross-sold products.
Examples in Mexico: Nu (Nubank), Klar, Stori, Hey Banco (BBVA), Albo, Cuenca, Fondeadora, Ualá. Some operate as full banks (Nu, Hey Banco), others as SOFIPO (Klar, Stori), others as IFPE partnered with banks for deposit-taking.
Key metrics: CAC (customer acquisition cost), MAU/DAU, ARPU, retention at 30/60/90 days, total deposits, active card count, transaction volume, NPS.
Typical challenges: long road to profitability (most burn capital for years); building enough trust for people to leave their money; heavy regulatory load; competition with traditional banks that don't stay still; high fraud exposure during rapid scaling.
Does your model fit more than one category?
That's the clearest signal you need early regulatory advice. In a DTX Audit™ we define in 45 minutes which figure(s) apply, which cross-cutting obligations come with them, and how to build the technology stack to support it.
Request a free DTX Audit™4. Investment and digital wealth management
Retail investment platforms: digital brokers for stocks and ETFs, robo-advisors that invest automatically by risk profile, mutual-fund platforms, derivatives trading, exposure to CETES and bonds. Business model: per-trade fees, AUM-based management fees, FX spreads, premium products.
Examples in Mexico: GBM+ and GBM Smart, Bursanet, Flink, Kuspit, Finsus, Cetes Directo (government program, not a pure fintech). They operate as a Casa de Bolsa (traditional figure, not under the Fintech Law) or, in some cases, as fund distributors.
Key metrics: AUM (assets under management), active accounts, average account size, trading frequency, ARPU.
Typical challenges: securities-markets regulation (stricter and more complex than traditional finance); user education to avoid losses from poor advice; international competition (the US app is always one click away); tax considerations the user doesn't always understand.
5. Crowdfunding (Collective Financing)
Platforms that connect investors with projects or companies. Three modalities regulated under the Fintech Law: debt-based (the most common — lending), equity (equity crowdfunding), and shared-ownership/royalty (real estate, royalties). Business model: origination fee from the borrower, management fee from the investor, spread.
Examples in Mexico: Yotepresto (P2P debt), Briq.mx (real estate), Play Business (equity), 100 ladrillos. They operate as IFC (Crowdfunding Institution) under the Fintech Law.
Key metrics: monthly placement volume, active investors, average project size, historical investor return, default rate.
Typical challenges: limited secondary liquidity (you can't easily sell your investment); project-analysis quality to avoid defaults; transparent communication with investors over the project life; additional regulatory load vs traditional lending; volatility under macro events.
6. Insurtech
100% digital insurers and insurance comparators. Typical products: auto, home, health, life, pet, micro-insurance (e.g., one-week umbrella). Business model: premium minus claims and operating costs. Comparators live off referral commissions.
Examples in Mexico: Crabi (auto), Sofía (health), Coru (comparator), Rastreator. They operate as insurance institutions authorized by CNSF (not CNBV) or as authorized brokers/comparators.
Key metrics: premiums written, loss ratio, expense ratio, annual retention, average policy size.
Typical challenges: CNSF regulation is very different from CNBV (different mindset and timelines); building enough capital reserves; actuarial models (more complex in markets without historical data); insurance culture less developed in Mexico vs the US or Europe.
7. Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) and infrastructure
The most explosive category in recent years. Companies that sell financial “plumbing” via APIs to other companies so they can launch their own products without building the stack from scratch. The end customer can be a retail brand, a marketplace, an ERP, a super-app, or any company that wants to offer financial services without becoming a bank.
Examples in Mexico/LATAM: Pomelo (card issuance as a service), Peibo, Trafalgar, Toka, Bind ERP (financial integrations), Belvo (open finance). 80% of the “new” fintechs you see are actually running on some BaaS.
Key metrics: active B2B customers, cards/accounts issued through the platform, processed volume, ARPU per customer, integration time, uptime.
Typical challenges: structurally low margin due to commodity nature (you compete with whoever has more scale); regulatory responsibility that flows downstream (if your B2B client fails, you also fail); API and SLA quality; customer concentration (losing a big customer hurts).
8. RegTech and Compliance
Specialized software for regulatory compliance: digital KYC, AML monitoring, sanctions screening (OFAC, UN, EU, UIF), beneficial-ownership identification, automated regulatory reporting, financial cybersecurity. Your customer is the fintech, bank, SOFOM, or insurer that needs to comply.
Examples in Mexico/LATAM: Truora (KYC), Amlsuite, Kueski (in its scoring side), Innova Black with the DTX Compliance Engine™. Some operate as pure SaaS; others, like Innova Black, combine technology + expert advisory for the regulated client.
Key metrics: client institutions, ARR, NRR (net revenue retention), identification volume, automatic-approval rate, latency, false-positive rate.
Typical challenges: long sales cycles (selling to a regulated institution takes months); complex integrations with legacy systems; obligation to keep compliance current as regulation changes; high information-security requirements (RegTech handles critical data).
How to decide where you fit
If you're evaluating launching or expanding a fintech, the critical exercise is to place your business model in one (or several) of these categories. Each category determines:
- Which legal figure is the natural one (ITF, SOFOM, SOFIPO, bank, broker-dealer, insurer).
- Which minimum capital you need and how it's calibrated against risk.
- Which authority mainly supervises you (CNBV, Banxico, CNSF, CONDUSEF).
- Which KYC/AML obligations apply.
- The realistic time to profitability and which metrics you must track.
The most expensive mistake we see is building the product first and choosing the figure later. The figure defines the product you can sell, the partners you can operate with, the investors who can come in, and the possible exits. Decide the figure first. Build everything else on top.
If you want to dig deeper: read the “What is a fintech?” guide and the Fintech Law explained. And if you want to accelerate your decision with an expert view of your specific case, schedule a free 45-minute DTX Audit™.