Argentina's Banking Gate: BCRA Expects Mercado Pago and Revolut Licenses Before End-2026 — Not Yet Granted

Argentina's Banking Gate: BCRA Expects Mercado Pago and Revolut Licenses Before End-2026 — Not Yet Granted

Status correction (as of October 12, 2026). An earlier revision of this note reported that the BCRA had "formalizado el otorgamiento de la licencia bancaria a Mercado Pago" (per Dolarhoy). This cycle's check shows that was premature: the authoritative framing is expectation, not grant. El Cronista reports that "el Banco Central anticipa que Mercado Libre y Revolut obtendrán licencia bancaria antes de concluir el año¹" — the BCRA anticipates both will obtain banking licenses before year-end. Local social posts tracking the story state plainly: "Aún no están aprobadas" (they are not yet approved). No formal grant has been published.

What the BCRA director said (Juan Curutchet, via El Cronista). The new entrants are expected to deepen competition for clients and deposits and expand credit:

"La expectativa es que a partir de eso haya todavía más crédito." — Juan Curutchet, director del BCRA (El Cronista)

"Todo lo que es banca y fintech, al final del día, vos podés decir: 'quiero abrir cuentas, quiero tener más clientes', pero al final del día lo que querés es prestar, porque si no, ¿para qué te metés en el negocio?" — Curutchet (El Cronista)

Curutchet also stressed that entry implies long-term investment commitments ("tienen una visión de negocio donde van a poner capital") — and, notably for market-structure watchers, that interest in Argentine banking licenses is not limited to Mercado Pago and Revolut: there are other applications from potential players, initiatives to raise capital in the market, and securities-market firms weighing the jump into banking.

Context carried forward. Revolut's path is the BCRA-approved acquisition of Banco Cetelem (BNP Paribas Personal Finance), with operations expected in 2027 (Revolut's Latin American Expansion: Mexico Hits 1 Million Clients in 8 Months as Argentina and Colombia Lines Advance). The separate fight over whether wallet-held salaries (cuenta sueldo) can be captured by fintechs — La Bancaria union contesting representation, labor-reform debate in Congress over wallets holding payroll deposits — remains the swing factor for the payroll-deposit prize; the outcome determines how much of the estimated 20+ trillion pesos/month payroll pool is actually capturable.

Watch: the watch on this fires when either the Mercado Pago license is formally published/granted or Revolut completes the Cetelem closing and launches as Revolut Bank Argentina S.A.U. — neither has happened yet.