Over the past few years, Latin America and the Caribbean have made huge strides for financial inclusion. More than 120 million people have accessed formal financial services for the first time since 2020, and in many markets over 80% of adults now own a financial product, compared with just 55% in 2017.
On paper, that looks like a mature digital ecosystem, with millions of cards and accounts, strong mobile penetration, and consumers who are increasingly digital first.
But there is a missing piece, which is acceptance.
Across the region, less than 50% of small merchants accept digital payments. In North LAC specifically, meaning Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean, the gap is even more pronounced. Of the roughly 11 million small merchants in this sub-region, an estimated 77% still do not accept digital payments. They are held back by manual processes, hidden costs, and legacy acquiring models that were never designed for micro and small businesses.
The result is a structural imbalance, where consumers are ready to pay digitally, but the places they shop are still ‘cash only.’
This imbalance shows clearly how people spend. Cash still represents about 58% of personal consumption expenditure in the region, despite the surge in cards and accounts.
In highly banked, tourism driven Costa Rica, cash accounts for around 16% of spending, while in Jamaica it is as high as 72%. Low Point of Sale (POS) penetration and limited digital acceptance mean millions of payment credentials sit underused in wallets, apps, and bank accounts.
Issuance alone cannot solve that.
When acceptance lags, merchants lose revenue and scale. Cash based operations are harder to track, harder to finance, and more vulnerable to theft and error.
Governments and regulators also lose visibility, which slows progress on transparency and tax efficiency. More importantly, the region cannot fully adopt the next generation of innovations such as biometric security, multi rail payments, or AI-driven agentic commerce without a modern, modular acceptance layer.
By contrast, expanding digital acceptance is one of the most powerful levers for growth.
Research cited in the report shows that increasing digital payment adoption by just 10% can generate measurable GDP impact. Acceptance accelerates formalization, improves consumer protection, and builds resilience for businesses of all sizes. For merchants, it unlocks access to new customers, better data, and value-added services such as lending, loyalty, and advanced fraud protection.
This is where players like Powertranz come in.
Instead of every bank or processor in the Caribbean and Central America trying to build its own full stack, Powertranz provides a shared gateway that connects nearly all major acquirers in the region and incorporates PayFacs to reach the long tail of merchants. That model helps reduce fragmentation, improve economics in small markets, and give even the smallest businesses access to best-in-class ecommerce and POS capabilities.
The message for the ecosystem is clear. The next stage of digital growth will not come from putting more cards into people’s hands. It will come from making sure those cards, accounts, and wallets can be used everywhere customers want to pay. That means shifting the strategic focus from issuance to acceptance and building the 2030 ready infrastructure that merchants in Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean need to thrive.
To learn more about digital acceptance, visit the Mastercard website here.