Downloads of digital banking and/or ewallet apps in Brazil increased again in May compared to April: neobanks had 23.2 million downloads in May, up from 22.4 million in April, according to a Bank of America (BofA) report.
The increase was led by Bitz, Bradesco‘s ewallet, with 3.4 million downloads. PicPay‘s ewallet came in second with 1.8 million downloads, and Mercado Pago came in third with 1.4 million downloads.
When looking at digital banks, Nubank had the most downloads, 2.6 million, though less than April’s 2.8 million. Next came C6, with 1.7 million, and Inter, with 1.4 million downloads.
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Compared to the search for traditional banking apps, digital banks and ewallets continue to lead the way: traditional banks posted 10.9 million downloads in May, compared to 9.8 million in April. On the other hand, private banks combined expanded 37% year over year, well above neobanks (+9% YoY).
The user base of traditional banks was added 3.5 million new monthly active users. While the active user base of digital banks increased 2.7 million month over month.
The acceleration of traditional banks was driven by Caixa Tem, which continues to gain traction due to the distribution of federal government benefits and credit programs. Its app was downloaded 3.9 million times in May. Next came Caixa, with 1.6 million downloads, and Bradesco, with 1.3 million downloads.
Active users
Nubank continues to lead in terms of monthly active users with 28.1 million in May, followed by PicPay with 14 million and Mercado Pago with 12.2 million. The companies that contributed the most for the increase in monthly active users in the category of digital banks and ewallets were PayPal, Nubank, and Bitz, with more than 600,000 new users in May.
Among traditional banks, Bradesco leads with 21.3 million monthly active users, followed by Caixa Tem, with 20.9 million, and Itaú Unibanco, with 15.3 million.
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Investment platforms
Investment platforms had 1.5 million downloads in May, better than April’s 1.4 million, but still below the record levels seen in 2021, when downloads were driven by a historically low Selic rate. BTG Pactual was the most downloaded app, with 497,000 downloads, followed by NuInvest (322,000) and Rico (177,000).
