Going digital and fintech: the case of bull market brokers

Abstract

Abstract: This paper shows how a stock market broker of Argentina, Bull Market Brokers, underwent a digital transformation and became a financial market leader, an innovative Fintech and financial educator. This company is a unique case in which a Latin American, stock market, non-native digital company based in Argentina advances its structure, processes and products to modernize and successfully compete within the new Fintech landscape while strengthening and moving forward its leadership in the Buenos Aires Stock Market, the largest in Argentina by capitalization, listed firms and turnover. Using the case-study methodology, the main results this paper finds are that: 1) the extent of the change and adaptation to the new conditions demanded by the stock market participants are complex and multidimensional; 2) stock market intermediaries are undergoing a paradigm shift that forces them to fully digitalize their operations; 3) this shift occurs through innovation in products and processes, strategic objectives, organizational design, product development and even the target clientele; and 4) incidentally, the case finds that the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic crisis offers a window of opportunity to accelerate digital transformation in financial intermediation, forcing companies and organizations to further adapt and ultimately survive the change in the business model.