• In addition to DPVAT, a new marketplace, the emergency funds and other social programs, Caixa Tem is also preparing to launch three other operations in the next month and a half;
• The purpose would be to reach its planned IPO – still with no official date – with a competitive digital bank solution.

Brazil’s state-owned bank Caixa Econômica Federal is planning to add a set of new features to its Caixa Tem app, created for emergency funds related to the pandemic, as an effort to remain relevant for its staggering base of more than 105 million clients.

On Caixa’s roadmap is a marketplace inside Caixa Tem’s app, where retailers approved by the bank will be able to sell products. According to what Caixa’s president Pedro Guimarães told Estadão’s column Broadcast, the existing models (of marketplaces created by banks) on the market can be replicated by Caixa Tem, but with the advantage of its 105 million customers, about half of the Brazilian population; and a physical network across Brazil’s all 5.5 thousand municipalities, except for four cities. “Nobody has our capillarity,” said the exec.

On Monday, Guimarães also announced that payments for DPVAT, the insurance used to compensate victims of traffic accidents in the country, would be made exclusively through Caixa Tem.

READ ALSO: Bye big banks, hello fintechs? Open Banking’s first phase in Brazil starts in February

“DPVAT makes about 600 thousand payments a year. Of course, many of these people will already have a Caixa Tem digital account, but, in general, those who suffer a car, motorcycle or truck accident usually have a greater purchasing power and several of them did not receive the emergency aid. They would be new customers,” he added.

In addition to DPVAT, a new marketplace, the emergency funds and other social programs such as the emergency withdrawal from FGTS (employee’s dismissal fund), Caixa Tem is also preparing to launch three other operations in the next month and a half, including a micro-lending program expected by the end of March, with loans ranging from BRL 500 to BRL 2,000. The purpose would be to reach its planned IPO – still with no official date – with a competitive digital bank solution.