BTG Pactual Empresas is at the forefront of SME banking innovation in Latin America and Brazil, offering a fully digital ecosystem that goes beyond traditional financial services. Through seamless onboarding, integrated tools and advanced AI capabilities, it helps businesses manage finances more efficiently and reduce costs. By enabling fully digital onboarding, the platform also reduces regional barriers, extending access to SMEs beyond major economic hubs, including underserved regions such as the North and Northeast of Brazil, thereby advancing financial inclusion at scale.
With a strong focus on APIs, automation and strategic partnerships, the bank delivers secure, flexible solutions that integrate into clients’ daily operations, driving efficiency, growth and a superior customer experience. This operational efficiency also contributes to environmental impact reduction through paperless processes and reduced need for physical travel and branch interactions.
The makings of a leading SME bank
First launched as a supply chain finance platform in 2019, BTG Pactual Empresas has evolved into a full-stack digital platform for SMEs, covering business banking, payments and credit. It now offers a fully integrated digital ecosystem for SMEs, with multiple platforms and services extending far beyond basic banking. Its features include:
All-in-one digital banking platform: A unified online and mobile platform where SMEs manage accounts, payments (Pix, transfers), and daily finances, with about 260,000 SME clients as of the end of Q3 2025. The bank leads with a digital-first approach – all SME accounts are opened digitally (over 90% via app or web) and more than 85% SME banking interactions occurring via mobile. The platform also supports SMEs with international operations by integrating foreign exchange, international payments and hedging tools directly into the account environment.
Embedded marketplace: Within the platform, the bank has onboarded 200 strategic partners to provide value-added services to clients, offering SMEs access to third-party solutions. These include accounting software: ERP integrations, legal/tax advisory, insurance, e-commerce tools, and more.
Digital lending and credit infrastructure: Digitising the entire SME credit journey from application to disbursement, the bank’s AI-led lending platform auto-approves loans instantly, contributing to 96% of SME loan disbursements being completed within 10 minutes – roughly 16x faster than traditional banks.
Open banking, APIs and embedded finance: A core pillar of BTG Pactual Empresas’ ecosystem is the API-first architecture that allows clients and partners to integrate BTG’s services into their own systems. With a broad suite of APIs (payments, collections, account info, FX, credit etc.) and a no-code automation platform, the team has effectively created a developer ecosystem around the bank. This no-code capability democratises automation for SMEs, reducing dependence on costly ERP systems and enabling practical use cases such as automated reconciliation, collections, disbursements and financial scheduling without requiring technical expertise.
Merchant acquiring and payments (BTG Pay): In 2025, the bank expanded into payments acquiring to complete its SME offering. BTG Pactual acquired Justa, a fintech specialising in POS payments for SMEs, and launched BTG Pay, an integrated merchant payments solution. This brings POS card acquiring, payment terminals and instant receivables into its ecosystem. The integration of Justa’s technology into the bank’s cash management platform is underway, with the goal of offering a fully integrated acquiring solution to its SME clients.
Helping businesses thrive
BTG Pactual Empresas provides flexible financing for essential agricultural inputs such as seeds, fertilisers and crop protection products, helping farmers maintain yield and manage cash flow. Beyond that, the bank supports essential supply chains across agribusiness, including distributors, small suppliers and resellers, ensuring liquidity and continuity across the ecosystem. It also supports investment in machinery, irrigation and rural infrastructure like warehouses and storage facilities to improve productivity and efficiency.
Its offerings extend to sectors such as sugarcane and livestock, while partnerships with dealers and suppliers enable seamless access to credit at the point of purchase. The bank also provides working capital across the agribusiness value chain, helping distributors and resellers offer favourable payment terms to rural customers.
Importantly, BTG Pactual Empresas also plays a growing role as a bridge for SMEs expanding internationally, particularly across Latin America (including Chile, Colombia and Uruguay), facilitating cross-border trade, payments and financial management.
Benefits for SMEs include competitive, tailored financing, fast digital onboarding, and end-to-end support from production to market. This is complemented by a hybrid service model that combines a robust digital platform with access to specialists who provide advisory on structured credit, agribusiness financing, foreign exchange and growth strategies for scaling businesses.
An award-winning SME current account
BTG Pactual Empresas’ SME current account has delivered tangible benefits, transforming how businesses manage their finances. Through 100% digital onboarding and paperless processes, account opening time has been reduced from days to under 10 minutes, enabling SMEs to begin transacting almost instantly. Zero maintenance fees and unlimited digital transfers have helped reduce costs and improve cash flow.
The platform simplifies day-to-day operations by integrating payments, collections, payroll and foreign exchange into a single interface, removing the need for multiple systems. With most interactions conducted via mobile, SMEs benefit from real-time, 24/7 access to their finances, while advanced security features such as biometric authentication and fraud detection ensure safety and compliance. In addition, access to a curated marketplace of services, including accounting, tax advisory and insurance, supports broader business needs and growth.
For the bank, the initiative has driven strong strategic and operational gains. Fully digital onboarding has accelerated customer acquisition and expanded market share, particularly in previously underserved regions, while reduced reliance on paper and physical branches has improved cost efficiency. High levels of straight-through processing have minimised manual intervention and streamlined operations.
Digital engagement has strengthened customer relationships and unlocked cross-selling opportunities across lending, foreign exchange and value-added services. At the same time, data generated through digital channels enables more personalised offerings and improved risk assessment, enhancing profitability and portfolio quality.
Leveraging AI across operations
The bank’s AI initiative is designed to deliver seamless, behind-the-scenes innovation, enhancing client experience without adding complexity. By embedding AI across key journeys, it enables internal teams to deliver faster, more efficient and higher-quality services. One example is the Electronic Invoice Reader, which converts invoices into payment slips, helping clients save time and improve operational efficiency.
In customer service, AI tools have significantly improved performance. A Knowledge Assistant enhances query handling and response accuracy, increasing first-contact resolution and customer satisfaction. Automated case summaries and data entry simplify agent workflows, reduce errors and improve accuracy, while virtual assistants support faster and more efficient responses. Together, these tools have reduced average handling time and steadily improved service accuracy.
AI is deeply embedded in the bank’s CRM, which orchestrates sales, credit and post-sales journeys. Advanced data analytics enable next-best-offer recommendations, cross-selling opportunities and proactive risk prevention. AI is also applied to commercial prioritisation, helping relationship managers identify high-potential clients and optimise engagement strategies.
Looking ahead, the bank plans to expand AI capabilities with transactional and sales virtual assistants, as well as supervisory tools, further driving efficiency and delivering greater value across customer interactions.
Creating a comprehensive ecosystem
BTG Pactual Empresas’ API initiative connects financial services with software and strategic partners – enabling secure, automated and advanced solutions and helping clients streamline financial management.
Recognising the limitations of legacy file-based systems, the bank introduced modern API and no-code automation solutions tailored to SME needs. Its extensive API portfolio offers flexible, cost-efficient tools that allow clients to integrate directly or access services through certified software partners. This approach significantly reduces costs and complexity while enabling more advanced use of banking services.
The platform has scaled rapidly, offering over 200 API endpoints across products, reports and open finance. It has seen strong adoption, with API usage reaching hundreds of millions of calls monthly, alongside a growing network of integrations and automated workflows. Overall, the initiative has enhanced efficiency, reduced costs and positioned the bank as a leader in digital SME banking solutions. By combining digital innovation with advisory-led engagement, BTG Pactual Empresas differentiates itself from purely digital banks, delivering both scale and depth to SME clients.
