Observational analysis shows SINPE Móvil enhances bank efficiency and reduces expenses in Costa Rica, suggesting broader implications for payment innovation.
Launched in 2015, the Costa Rican retail fast payment system SINPE Móvil has seen rapid adoption since 2020. As of 2025, >80% of the Costa Rica´s population older than 15 are active users, accumulating >65 million transactions each month. Higher SINPE Móvil use has been related to lower cash withdrawals, a greater number of users and lower average transaction values, suggesting SINPE Móvil has carved a prominent place in retail payments. With a synthetic controls approach comparing Costa Rica to peer countries, we show that wide adoption of SINPE Móvil led to lower non-interest expenses by Costa Rican banks after the pandemic. This suggests that payments innovation can enhance bank efficiency.
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Araujo et al. (2026) studied this question.
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