Digital Capital Markets: A New Source of Corporate Financing

The Dependence on Relationship Banks

A mid-market company in Latin America typically depends on five or six relationship banks for all its financing. Bond issuance through traditional channels costs 2% to 4% in fees, takes three to six months, and requires minimum sizes that exclude many companies.

The result: limited access to capital, concentrated counterparty risk, and pricing power that favors the banks. Digital capital markets are changing this equation.

What Are Digital Capital Markets

Digital capital markets use the same infrastructure that optimizes treasury (digital dollars, programmable settlement) to issue, distribute, and settle financial instruments. The key difference: instead of moving payments, you are moving securities.

Two pathways exist:

Digital Private Credit (no additional regulatory approval required): direct placement of debt instruments with institutional investors, structured as private placements under existing securities exemptions. Timeline: 2 to 3 months versus 4 to 6 months traditional. Cost reduction: 40-60% in issuance and administration. Broader investor base: pension funds (AFPs, or Administradoras de Fondos de Pensiones), insurance companies, and family offices can participate directly.

Public Digital Securities Issuance (requires regulatory coordination): full public issuance on regulated digital platforms. Requires securities regulator approval. Longer timeline: 4 to 6 months including regulatory coordination. Benefits: broader distribution, secondary market liquidity, and regulatory validation.

Who Has Already Issued

These are not pilot ideas. They are real issuances executed by tier-one institutions:

The European Investment Bank (EIB) issued a EUR 100 million digital bond with D+0 (same-day) settlement in 2022. Goldman Sachs served as bookrunner. It was the first syndicated digital bond with intraday settlement.

The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and Davivienda issued Colombia's first digital bond for COP $110 million, operating on institutional infrastructure within Colombia's regulatory sandbox in 2022.

BlackRock BUIDL is a US Treasury fund that now exceeds $2 billion. Institutional investors access Treasury yields with instant redemption.

Franklin Templeton BENJI manages approximately $800 million in a money market fund operated on digital infrastructure.

Hamilton Lane launched a private equity fund on a digital platform, operational in weeks versus the months required for traditional fund setup.

Securitize is processing a $1.25 billion SPAC IPO (in progress, 2026). It is the infrastructure provider behind BlackRock BUIDL.

The NUAM Regional Integration

For companies operating across Latin America, the NUAM integration (the merged stock exchanges of Colombia, Chile, and Peru) creates an additional opportunity. Any digital issuance in one NUAM country could potentially access investors across all three markets. This amplifies the value of early adoption for companies with regional operations.

Brazil is building separately through B3, its stock exchange, with a planned institutional digital securities platform in 2026. Argentina has an active regulatory sandbox for digital securities.

What This Means for Your Company

For companies currently dependent on bank financing:

• Digital private credit: accessible in 2 to 3 months, no additional regulatory approval required in most jurisdictions.
• Cost reduction: 40-60% in issuance and administration.
• Investor diversification: direct access to institutional investors beyond relationship banks.
• Regional reach: NUAM integration opens cross-border distribution.

The technology and regulation exist today. Companies in the region are already evaluating these alternatives with specialized advisory.