Issuer, the Latin American electronic payment processing and technology company Evertec, has received authorisation from the Central Bank (BC) to operate as a payment institution (PI).

With this, Evertec, which is expanding its activities in Brazil, will also have its first IP in the country. Issuer will be able to operate in the modalities of issuer of electronic money and post-paid payment instrument. Its share capital is BRL 14.37 million.

Headquartered in Puerto Rico, Evertec operates in 26 countries, but still has little presence in Brazil.

Earlier this year, it bought paySmart, a Brazilian fintech that allows other companies to offer financial products. Issuer is linked to paySmart. Last week, it also announced an agreement to acquire Sinqia - the expectation is to complete the transaction in the fourth quarter.

"With the payment institution licence, we have the possibility to offer new financial services to customers, increase the range of products", says the general director of Evertec's paySmart line in Brazil, Daniel Oliveira.

paySmart processes transactions for issuers. Issuer was created later to act as a "BIN sponsor", that is, "lending" its relationship with the brands so that customers can start operating with cards in a simplified way.

The Brazilian companies will continue to use their own names, but the idea is to increasingly expose the Evertec brand in the country.