Discussions about the application of artificial intelligence tools in the Brazilian financial market are quite heated. The advance takes place in a scenario of record growth in investments in technology by institutions and greater attention from the Central Bank to the subject, although the creation of specific rules on the subject is not yet foreseen in the short term.
Data from the Brazilian Federation of Banks (Febraban), in partnership with Deloitte, show that Brazilian banks would invest R$47.8 billion in technology by the end of 2025, with a significant portion of this investment destined for AI, big data and Analytics solutions. On the global stage, the movement is similar. According to IMARC Group, the global market for AI applied to fintechs could reach US$97.7 billion by 2033.
Even though an environment of global financial crisis is driven by AI mechanisms, professionals and scholars in the field believe that the solidity of the Brazilian banking system places the country in a relatively privileged situation, which should not be confused with immunity.
They point out that Brazil has one of the most digitalized and regulated financial systems in the world, which has a strong instant payments infrastructure, the advancement of Open Finance and the performance of a technically robust Central Bank.
“Brazil has a very solid architecture to deal with liquidation risks and information crises. This gives us an advantage, but does not make us immune”, says professor André Filipe Batista, specialist in data science and coordinator of the Insper Data Science Center.
For him, the combination of advanced digitalization and regulatory capacity creates a window of opportunity for the country to become a reference in digital trust architecture, a concept that involves algorithmic transparency, diversity of models, human supervision and combating fraud.
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Ivo Mósca, director of Innovation, Products, Services and Security at Febraban, reinforces this vision, highlighting the historical resilience of the national financial system and the regulator’s ability to react quickly to new threats, such as digital crimes and scams involving AI. Still, he says, there are important structural challenges.
The main one is the shortage of skilled labor in technology, including teachers in the area. While countries like India and China train hundreds of millions of professionals in the field, Brazil is still progressing at a slower pace, he says.
“Artificial intelligence can help speed up this process, but it does not replace investment in education, teacher training and infrastructure”, says the executive.
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In Ticiana Amorim’s view, the path goes through a combination of clear regulation, corporate governance and ethics. Many Brazilian companies already adopt internal policies for the responsible use of AI, but the risk of misuse, fraud and misinformation remains. “Regulation will always be one step behind technology. But the challenge is to guarantee security and stability; not to stifle innovation”, he says.
With this objective, national entities have been seeking to work together. One of the recent initiatives is the Plano Brasil Digital+, which stopped being a plan and became an association. This is a multi-sectoral and collaborative group, created with the objective of positioning Brazil as a leader in global digital value chains by 2030 and beyond, driving economic growth, innovation and social inclusion through the strategic use of digital technologies.
Initially led by Brasscom (association of information technology companies), the group today has 80 members in Brazil and abroad, including agents such as CNI, Fiesp and Febraban. The idea is to unify efforts from the government, private sector and society to create a competitive digital environment.
