“Can a BCRA-licensed bank subsidiary serve as the regulated financial infrastructure backbone for Ualá's multi-million user fintech ecosystem in Argentina?”
Originally founded in 2017 as Banco Wanap / Wilobank, Argentina's first fully digital bank with BCRA authorization from 2018, the company operated as a standalone neobank focused on savings accounts, debit/credit cards, and fixed-term deposits. In 2022, Ualá's group holding (Bancar Technologies Limited) acquired 100% of the bank and rebranded it Uilo (Ualá Bank S.A.U.), transforming it from an independent neobank into the regulated banking backbone of the Ualá fintech ecosystem. This acquisition gave Ualá — previously a PSP and non-financial credit provider (PNFC) — a full bank charter, enabling broader product expansion including loans, investments, insurance, and dollar accounts, all delivered through the Ualá app.
Wilobank (Uilo Bank)'s cards run on Mastercard.
The Embedded Finance Index 2026 maps 2 layers in Wilobank (Uilo Bank)'s stack: Card network (Mastercard); Lending (Préstamos personales (personal loans)).
Wilobank (Uilo Bank) is founded in 2017 and headquartered in Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Get a read on where your own stack stands against Wilobank (Uilo Bank) and the rest of its category — what they built versus bought, which providers they use, and where the gaps in your own strategy and competitive set actually are.