Banco Inter US
“Can a Brazilian digital super-app become the cross-border financial OS for the Latin American diaspora in the US — and turn a chartered Miami branch into a beachhead for global banking?”
Founded in 1994 as a small Brazilian finance company, Banco Inter rebranded in 2015 and aggressively pivoted to a fully-digital, free-checking model that anchored its rise into a 41M-customer super-app. The US strategy progressed in three stages: first an MSB-licensed money-transmitter (Inter & Co Payments) offering a USD Global Account for Brazilian customers via Community Federal Savings Bank and Continental Bank as sponsor banks; then expansion to serve the 5M US-based Latin American customers with US Checking and the Inter Passport Credit Card; and finally in 2026 Fed approval to operate a state-licensed Miami branch — moving Banco Inter from BaaS-dependent fintech to chartered US banking presence.