Carrefour Banco accelerates its digital transformation and leaves behind its role as a simple card issuer. The French chain completes the metamorphosis of its Financial Services Bank (BSF) to become a relevant player in the Argentine virtual financial world.
The change definitively puts an end to the idea of ceding operations to Francisco De Narváez’s group. The headquarters in Paris ordered to deepen profitability through digitalization and an aggressive financial services scheme.
The entity, which historically moved the chain’s credit card, now operates under the brand Carrefour Bank. It integrates digital banking services, payment accounts and an ecosystem of benefits designed to shield the client from virtual wallets and traditional banking.
The last step was taken on April 8. That day, the entity began to operate under the umbrella of SAU Financial Services Bank., as reported by the authorities to the National Securities Commission (CNV).
The bank’s Market Relations Manager explained the reasons for the name change. He also detailed the transformation of the corporate type to a Single-Person Limited Company.
The institution showed a positive result of $11,563 million in 2025against a loss of $6.13 billion in 2024. This 58% jump is supported by the development of financial products: Mi Carrefour Crédito cards and personal loans.
The promotion of optional insurance, not accessory to the financial benefit, also contributed to generating income.
Why Carrefour is betting everything on the digital banking business
Since last year, the bank has had INC SA as its sole shareholder. This company belongs to the Carrefour Group, after the departure of BNP Paribas, which sold its stake.
The bank contributed to store and online channel sales with a participation as a means of payment of 9.3%. He did it through credit and prepaid cards.
The consumption that customers made with these plastics in other businesses grew 50.4% nationally and internationally.
Adding total consumption in Carrefour stores and in the rest of the stores, The bank financed purchases for $784,690 million during 2025. In addition, it granted personal loans for $34,557 million, at an average rate of 172.4% and with an average term of 8.7 months.
The objective is to achieve greater fluidity by allowing top-ups and withdrawals of funds through immediate transfers, something that traditional wallets already dominate but that Carrefour wants to offer with exclusive 35% discounts on key categories.
What services does the Carrefour Banco digital account offer?
As part of the virtual financial expansion plan, it launched the Digital Account product. It is associated with the prepaid card with CVU provided by BIND.
The account rewards daily returns. It grants exclusive discounts every day at Carrefour and allows you to buy with a QR code in any store.
It also allows you to pay for services, credit card statements and bank personal loan fees.
Another service: allows qualifying customers to quote consumption made with prepaid, by granting a loan.
Currently, the bank operates 175,180 digital accounts. As a near goal, it will continue with its consumer financing activity and increase the offering of services.
The plan to capture salaries and compete with Mercado Pago
Among the future new businesses, it is being analyzed to include a Uniform Bank Code (CBU). That would allow him to attract salaries.
The loans granted today are not funded with deposits. Capturing salaries will allow you to carry out financial intermediation and improve rates.
To fund the activity, it will seek to diversify the sources of financing. The focus will be on interbank loans, funds raised in digital accounts and Negotiable Obligations (ON).
The transformation strategy towards digital banking also includes implementing a core banking system. This system will allow businesses to be promoted with new commercial options for people and companies, through savings accounts and checking accounts.
The scheme replicates the model implemented for more than two decades in other countries where Carrefour operates, mainly in Europe, Asia and Brazil, although adapted to consumption characteristics and local regulations of the Argentine market.
How Carrefour Banco was born and who controls it now
The now Carrefour Financial Services Bank was created as a public limited company in 1998.
On July 30, 2025, BNP Paribas Personal Finance transferred its entire package: 44,713,864 Class B non-endorsable registered shares, of $1 par value each, to INC SA
Thus, the entity was transformed into a Unipersonal Limited Company (SAU). The BCRA authorized this change at the end of last year, making it conditional on the registration of the reform of the corporate statute with the CNV.
On March 4, the CNV approved the modification.
The main commercial activity focuses on providing financial services to the Carrefour Group’s clients in Argentina. It does it through consumer financing intended for purchases of any product in all store formats of the chain.
What financial products does Carrefour have and how did they evolve?
Its main product is the closed credit card for use exclusively in Carrefour stores and participating businesses. In 2019, it replaced them with an international Mastercard credit card. It was enabled to pay in stores in the country and abroad.
In 2024, financing with this means was distributed: 65% on consumption in Carrefour stores and 35% in other stores. Last year, the shares were 55% and 45%, respectively. The bank also offers personal loans to credit card customers. In addition, it gives them to new users who want it and meet requirements.
This product already reaches an 8% share of the total Loans and Other Financing category. In 2024 it registered 3.8%. For customers who did not qualify for credit, in 2023 it launched a prepaid Mastercard. It is used to pay with preloaded balances in any business.
It also serves to prove a personal loan granted by the entity. It works as a prior step to credit, since it allows the bank to evaluate payment behavior. Since the end of last year, it has offered the digital account, which is associated with the prepaid card with CVU. Offers the paid account with the best rate on the market. All these products are provided through BIND PSP.
Why the financial business is more profitable than the shelves
This is not a name change or rebranding. It is a transformation that responds to three pillars that the new local management defined after ratifying continuity in the country.
First pillar: consolidation of the Digital Account. Stop being a mere card issuer and become a payment service provider (PSP), a field that Mercado Pago dominates.
Second pillar: financing at the point of sale. In a context of hard-hit consumption, the ability to offer exclusive quotations and discounts (up to 35% in key categories) is the chain’s most powerful retention tool.
Third pillar: synergy with the RIGI and large investments. Take advantage of the current regulatory framework to modernize logistics infrastructure (with Meli Log and other agreements) and technological infrastructure.
The idea is to leverage the flexibility that the bank brand gives it to capture liquidity and finance its own expansion, something that pure retail does not allow in the same way. speed or profit margins.
The decision has a commercial basis: Carrefour retains a solid 21% of the share, disputing neck and neck for leadership with Coto.
But the Bank also allows you to diversify income. This way you stop depending only on the margin of the gondola.
How Carrefour Banco competes with the new fintech and digital banks
Carrefour’s move comes as the local financial map is being redrawn. New digital banks arrive like Revolut, Banco Inter, Nubank. Payment Market He asked for a banking license. The financial verticals of other retailers are consolidated. The French chain knows that the business is no longer just about selling food. It is managing the financial flow of your clients.
It is clear that the new Carrefour is, strictly speaking, a technology and finance company that uses its 600 branches as the largest local network to deploy its banking artillery. The BSF, that old card issuer from the 90s, is today the heart of a survival and growth strategy in Argentina. The integration of digital accounts allows you to raise funds at a lower cost than traditional financing. In recent years, an increase in the mass of demand deposits has been observed. This gives you the financial muscle to finance your own loan portfolio without eroding working capital.
With the issuance of ON, the bank demonstrates that institutional investors see in the financial arm of Carrefour a solid corporate risk. It is decoupled from seasonal fluctuations in mass consumption. The analysis of the financial statements shows that the financial services vertical contributes a proportionally higher share of profitability (EBITDA) than the sale of mass consumption products (FMCG).
While the retail margin is narrow by nature, the BSF does not need to go hunting for customers on the streets. It has them within its 600 branches every day. This drastically reduces marketing and recruitment spending compared to a pure fintech. By having full traceability of customer consumption in the supermarket, the BSF’s risk algorithm is much more precise than that of a traditional bank. Allows controlled default even in recession cycles.
For the parent company in France, the BSF acts as a cash management tool (Cash Management) efficient. In a country with inflation, the speed of money turnover is key. This financial efficiency is, in large part, the reason why the group decided not to sell the operation in Argentina.
The projected balance for 2026 shows that The Bank can represent close to 30% of net profits of the company in the country. It becomes an extremely resilient hybrid operation.
In short, the metamorphosis towards Carrefour Banco is the culmination of a process of balance sheet cleanup and optimization.
For city analysts, the message is clear: Carrefour is no longer just the place where you buy bread. It is a financial platform that also has shelves.
