SONAE UNIVERSO
+ 1mn
Customers
+ 1bn Euros Production
+ 300k Insurances Policies credit operator in Portugal with Sonae and Bankinter Consumer Finance as shareholders .
Sonae ’ s CFO , João Dolores , says : " Over the course of the past few years , Universo has been consolidating its position as a reference operator in the Portuguese financial services market , leveraging its digital structure and contributing to bolstering the performance of the Group ’ s businesses , in addition to its ecosystem of partners . The preliminary agreement now signed with Bankinter aims to seize this successful path to establish a leading consumer credit operator in Portugal .”
Both shareholders have the ambition of growing internationally and taking some of the features that made them successful to other countries .
When asked about internationalisation , Braziel David says : “ What Universo has built can be leveraged in other markets - Not only the technical solution and related partnerships ecosystem , but also the AI , risk and other core competences critical for this business .”
“ Naturally , we know each market differs , and the business model must be adapted . Nevertheless , our success has been driven by our teams , by our people , that will be successful in other markets if challenged to it ”.
Moreover , Braziel David says : “ Universo success has been driven by a challenging mindset , with a very clear purpose and distinctive culture . Our challenge is finding business models that work and that cannot be easily replicated – creating an ' unfair advantage '. We did it once . We expect to continue doing it .” fintechmagazine . com 41