At FinnLAC 2025, IDB urges focus on aging population in Latin America’s digital future

Miami, Nov 4 (EFE).- Participants at the FinnLAC 2025 forum on Tuesday focused on the market segment offering the greatest business opportunities for fintech and the wider financial sector in Latin America: older adults, who must be brought into the new technological wave and equipped with digital skills to unlock their full potential.

James Scriven, CEO of IDB Invest, opened the forum organized by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) Group speaking alongside Michael Schlein, president of Accion, and stressing that “the financial landscape and inclusivity have radically changed” during his 35 years in the industry.

“When I started, everything revolved around who had access to a (physical) bank or not. It was all very bank-centric. Now it’s not,” he said, noting that thanks to technological advances over the past decade, around 70% of the region now has access to financial services.

The two-day event, which brings together more than 500 participants and some 70 speakers at Miami’s InterContinental Hotel, devoted part of its discussions to the 140 million Latin Americans and Caribbeans who remain excluded from any financial ecosystem.

“30 by 2030”

The forum’s opening coincided with the official launch of IDB Pay, a new initiative to accelerate the implementation of low-cost, fast digital payment systems in the region, with the goal of providing financial services to the 30% of Latin Americans who remain unbanked by 2030.

Anderson Caputo, head of the IDB’s Connectivity, Markets and Finance Division, emphasized the slogan of this ambitious mission—“30 by 2030”—repeatedly throughout his remarks.

Caputo told EFE that success depends on the “comprehensive approach” promoted by FinnLAC, which brings together IDB Invest, focused on the private sector; the IDB, focused on regulation; and “all the innovation that IDB Lab brings,” the group’s technology, entrepreneurship and venture capital arm.

Most of the 140 million Latin Americans without banking access are older adults in Central America and the Caribbean, which is why much of the discussion turned to the so-called “silver wave”—the growing economic importance of older populations.

César Buenadicha, head of the IDB’s Ecosystem Building and Acceleration Unit, was blunt during one of the roundtables: “Bet on aging. There’s no other market growing faster.”

A region that’s aging rapidly

Buenadicha’s call was backed by strong evidence: Latin America is one of the fastest-aging regions in the world, with most countries already recording birth rates below replacement levels.

“These are our grandparents, our parents—this is us in 10 or 20 years. It’s happening now,” said Angelo Ciuffardi of Chile’s Caja Los Héroes.

Ciuffardi explained that most of their members are retirees or people nearing retirement, and studies show that even though internet penetration is almost universal, many older adults still “don’t use it for their transactions.”

Based on digital education workshops run by Los Héroes, Ciuffardi stressed the need for empathy and patience. “We have to sit down not just to design products for them, but with them,” he said.

Caputo added that while technology brings many solutions to expand financial inclusion, it also “poses risks,” particularly for the “silver” segment.

“That’s why we need financial education mechanisms. And it goes beyond that—it’s also about language and communication,” he noted.

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EFE published this report with the support of the IDB.

Anderson Caputo, head of the Connectivity, Markets and Finance Division at the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), speaks during an interview with EFE at the FinnLAC 2025 forum on Tuesday in Miami (United States). EFE/Alberto Boal