Agentic AI in Finance 101, Neon’s $129M, Bre-B’s Instant Traction, and More

Hi again 👋🏼

This week’s edition is all about the next big leap in applied AI for finance. And no, it’s not another chatbot.

We’re talking about Agentic AI: autonomous systems that act, not just assist. They detect fraud, reconcile books, flag regulatory changes, and even run your cash flow ops. No prompt required.

In this breakdown:

• 💡 What Agentic AI actually is (and what it’s not)

• 🧠 How players like Ramp, Intuit, and BNY Mellon are using it today

• 📊 Use cases that go beyond the buzzwords — with real ROI

• 🔮 What to expect in the next 6 months (hint: compliance, treasury, credit)

• 📍 Strategic moves for founders, fintechs, and incumbents to stay ahead

And of course, we close with 🔥 fintech news from Latin America: Neon’s $129M Series E, Bre-B’s instant traction, and Itaú’s bold GenAI bet for SMBs.

Agentic AI in Finance: What You Need to Know 🧠

We’re moving past chatbots and copilots. The real shift? Agentic AI — systems that don’t just respond, they act.

This isn’t theoretical. Companies like Ramp, Intuit, and BNY Mellon are already utilizing agent-based systems to block fraud, automate accounting, and make compliance more dynamic. Here’s a crash course.

1. What Is Agentic AI in Finance?

Most AI tools today wait for instructions. Agentic AI doesn’t.

These are autonomous agents that make decisions, act on real-time data, and execute multi-step tasks, all without being told what to do every time.

It’s not a chatbot. It’s not a copilot. It's the full workstream:

1. Automatically blocks an out-of-policy expense

2. Runs cash flow forecasts

3. Flags a new regulation and adjusts systems

4. Sends your client their monthly invoice, no nudge required

It’s like giving your finance team an army of proactive analysts that never sleep, at a fraction of the cost.

2. How Are Companies Building It?

By stacking modular tools. Nobody is reinventing the wheel:

• Multi-agent systems: Each agent handles a part of the workflow (e.g., compliance, reconciliation, data pull).

• APIs & integrations: Think Claude + Snowflake + S&P Global + internal docs.

• LLMs with RAG: Augmenting large models with internal + external knowledge sources to avoid hallucinations.

• Infra: Snowflake/Databricks as the base, layered with secure APIs and governance protocols.

Big players like Anthropic are partnering. Others like BNY Mellon are building hybrid stacks with OpenAI. No one’s going solo.

3. Real Problems Being Solved; Not Just Buzzwords

4. Who’s Using It

• Enterprises: BNY Mellon (dozens of AI “employees”), Citigroup (pilots), Ramp (finance ops).

• SMBs: Intuit’s QuickBooks agents are live, saving time on invoicing and cash flow.

• Embedded fintechs: Expense and payment infra tools are layering in agents quietly.

• Banks: Commonwealth Bank is testing Claude FS. Citi is running agentic sprints.

5. Leading Players & What They’re Doing

💡 Anthropic – Claude for Financial Services: LLM + enterprise connectors (Databricks, Snowflake, S&P). It runs modeling, compliance, and risk tasks with 80%+ accuracy.

Monetized via SaaS + data connectors.

🧾 Ramp – AI Agents for Finance Ops: Agents block fraud, enforce policy, and auto-approve expenses.

40K+ clients. Bundled into existing Ramp offering.

🧠 BNY Mellon – Digital Employees: Agents with system logins, email access, and human managers.

96% of staff use Eliza (internal AI platform). AI is embedded in ops.

💼 Intuit – QuickBooks AI Agents: Virtual team handles invoicing, reconciliation, insights.

Users save 12+ hours/month. 78% say it’s easier. Tiered pricing built into web offering.

6. Agentic AI could unlock $450Bn in value.

• Ramp: AI agents live across 40k businesses.

• Intuit: Subscribed SMBs save hours and report better outcomes.

• BNY Mellon: At-scale rollout inside a top bank.

• Anthropic: Partnering with asset managers + banks.

We are still in the early days, but expect momentum to grow.

7. What’s Coming Next (6 Months)

• Emerging players: AI-native FinOps, treasury infra, and compliance tools will ship first.

• Deeper integration: Expect banks to embed Claude, GPT, or Mixtral into core ops via secure connectors.

• Vertical focus: Treasury, accounting, compliance, and credit scoring will see the most agent action.

• Regulatory clarity: Banks want transparency and auditability. That’s where the infra race is happening now.

8. Strategic Moves for Fintechs

Startups:

• Automate one vertical pain point fast, e.g. automate 1,000s of bill payments with proper reporting and invoices for audits

• Use off-the-shelf LLMs + retrieval pipelines

• Focus on high-ROI ops (finance, risk, compliance)

Incumbents:

• Build orchestration layers over your data

• Partner with data providers + LLM players

• Start internal pilots with a clear use case and cost-saving goals: best companies I've seen are empowering high-performance employees by building task-force to solve a pain point via AI agents, and ship the MVP to later iterate.

Everyone: Track hours saved, Build trust (auditability > novelty), Package as “efficiency,” not “AI magic”

TL;DR

• Agentic AI ≠ Chatbot. These tools act, not just respond.

• It’s already replacing manual finance ops at scale: Ramp, Intuit, and BNY are leading.

• The window to experiment is now. Don’t wait until it’s table stakes.

If you’re building anything in finance, ops, or infra, the shift to agents is coming fast.

LatAm Fintech News - Bre-B hits 3m users on day 1, Neon $129m Series E, and more

Brazil is leading the M&A and fundraising activity, with plenty of product plays and infra moves across Latin America, especially in real-time payments (Bre-B), AI-powered apps, and embedded finance.

💸 Capital & Consolidation

• 🇧🇷 Totvs acquires Linx from Stone In a R$3B deal, Totvs bought Linx — giving the Brazilian ERP giant deeper reach into retail software and signaling Stone’s shift away from non-core assets.

• 🇧🇷 Neon extends Series E by $129M Neon brought in fresh capital from IFC and DEG to fuel Pix innovation, Open Finance integrations, and AI across ops. It’s a bet on infrastructure and automation at scale.

💳 Fintech & Product Moves

• 🇲🇽 Mercado Pago lets you cash out at OXXO New integration allows users to withdraw money from their digital wallets at OXXO stores — up to $167 per transaction. Physical rails matter.

• 🇵🇪 Kupos drops $10M to enter Peru Chilean-born Kupos lands in Peru, bringing its all-in-one transport platform with embedded fintech and energy services.

• 🇦🇷 Brubank integrates with Pix Brubank is now the first Argentine bank to plug into Brazil’s Pix system — a major step for cross-border instant payments.

• 🇨🇱 Rutpay launches loyalty with Copec BancoEstado’s app Rutpay partnered with Copec on a new fuel loyalty program. Points stack directly in the app. Embedded rewards done right.

• 🇵🇪 B89 launches B89+ with global transfers B89’s new app lets users send international remittances via Visa Direct — aiming for speed and UX simplicity.

• 🇨🇴 Hula rolls out AI payment automation Hula, based in Colombia, introduced an AI-native automation tool for payments — targeting finance teams looking to cut back complexity and costs.

• 🇧🇷 NuCoin 2.0 goes live Nubank kicked off testing for the revamped NuCoin loyalty program. Now rewards extend to debit card users and will soon reach more products.

• 🇧🇷 Itaú replaces SMB managers with GenAI Itaú spun off “Itaú Emps,” a new AI-powered app for small business owners. Instead of relationship managers, GenAI handles requests and support.

• 🇨🇳 UnionPay sets its sights on Brazil The world’s largest card network is prepping entry into Brazil — more competition ahead in the acquiring game.

🏦 Financial Infra & Banking

• 🇧🇷 Bre-B launches with 3M key registrations on day 1 The new Brazilian instant payment system Bre-B saw 3M+ key signups and over 5M active keys within 24 hours. Demand for real-time rails keeps rising.

• 🇧🇷 Pix goes global via Verifone + PagBrasil Brazilians shopping in the U.S. can now pay in reais using Pix, thanks to a new APM integration from Verifone and PagBrasil. Seamless cross-border UX.

• 🇵🇪 BCP partners with SAP + Shinkansen Peru’s BCP is doubling down on corporate services, integrating with SAP and Shinkansen to deliver better financial and B2B automation tools.

• 🇧🇷 Bradesco enables voice Pix in WhatsApp Using its virtual assistant BIA, Bradesco now lets users send Pix with voice commands. Conversational banking, actually working.

• 🇨🇴 DaviPlata hits 19M users, expands into commerce DaviPlata continues its push as Colombia’s financial inclusion leader, now prepping merchant services on top of its massive user base.

• 🇲🇽 Clip teams with Belvo for inclusion push Clip is integrating Belvo’s tech to simplify financial access and bring more users into the formal economy in Mexico.

• 🇧🇷 New Payment Institutions get the green light Finteca, Apus Digital, and PinPag received official Central Bank authorization to operate as regulated Payment Institutions.

• 🌎 Thredd & Payblr team up for cross-border infra The new partnership supports seamless international expansion for fintechs, with embedded payment stack support.

• 🇲🇽 Global Payments + Banamex renew alliance A long-term partnership renewal aimed at reaching every merchant profile — digital native or not.

• 🇧🇷 Mercado Pago adds tax payment integration Driven by user demand, tax payments are now part of Mercado Pago’s suite. A small but key step toward deeper ecosystem lock-in.

🔍 Other Insights & Warnings

• 🇧🇷 PicPay brings crypto back After regulatory clarity, PicPay is reintroducing crypto trading to its platform.

• 🇧🇷 Fake online stores top fraud charts Social media “promo traps” remain the most common fraud tactic in Brazil, per latest research.

• 🇧🇷 Online betting drains R$22B/month The Central Bank estimates that online betting is pulling over R$22B monthly from individual accounts. Major macro and regulatory implications.

• 🇧🇷 Credit card revolvers hit 70% Over 70% of Brazilians are now revolving card debt — at annualized rates topping 400%. Default risk continues to climb.

Thanks for Reading!

This LinkedIn version is just a teaser, you can find full breakdowns live now on Substack (link in the comments). If you enjoyed the read or learned something new, please consider subscribing and sharing it with a founder, PM, or operator who’s navigating the same wave.

More sharp trends, operator lessons, and real-world fintech moves coming next week.

Un abrazo,

Edu