BASA Digital Qorus-Infosys Finacle Banking Innovation Awards 2024 - Winner

People in the remote Amazon region rely heavily on subsistence activities―family farming, artisanal fishing, and mining and extraction. However, small operations in these areas often struggle to access basic financial services, such as banking and credit, which support investment in these businesses. Additionally, meeting environmental and compliance requirements can be a long and costly process. Our challenge was be able to provide services quickly, without incurring high operational costs.

We’re talking about a region with continental-scale distances and limited communication and transport networks. We needed to develop a service that customers who often don’t have any banking services could access from their own property.

We developed BASA Digital as an integrated platform to accelerate vital funding to maintain and develop local subsistence projects. The platform lets Banco da Amazônia S.A. credit agents process credit quickly and effectively, reducing barriers between rural producers and financial services.

Bring “revolutionary” access through improved efficiencies

BASA Digital has created increased levels of operational efficiency. Application processes that once took 6 months have been cut to just 24 hours, bringing financial services and credit to a population that previously struggled to access them.

The resulting figures are impressive:

• In 2022, BRL314.8 million ($64.2 million) was contracted by BASA Digital―a 370.4% increase since 2021.

• Operations contracted through BASA Digital also account for 43.8% of Programa Nacional de Fortalecimento da Agricultura Familiar (PRONAF) contracts―a national program that focuses on developing and strengthening family agriculture.

• 16,860 contracts were signed in 2022―a 287.3% increase since 2021.

It’s easy to offer credit in urban areas; doing it in middle of the Amazon Forest is completely different. In 2022, 50% of the credit offered by the bank was to rural areas through the BASA Digital platform. That’s revolutionary.