“A population excluded from the financial system is a population doomed to poverty.” This is the voice of Harold Correa, founder of Íkualo, a fintech company that is a financial hub for immigrants in Europe. The goal is to avoid financial exclusion of this group, which suffers greatly from the inability to even access a bank account. Ikualo wants to accompany the process of immigrant arrival to Europe until you have a resident card and the financial world becomes more open.

Harold Correa founded Ikualo because he worked as a programmer in the banking sector. saw the problem that immigrants did not have access to the financial system. In fact, he himself suffered from this problem when he arrived and until he received a residence permit. These closed doors hinder, as Correa explains, the economic and social evolution of migrants, since they cannot open an account with which to send money to their home country or receive direct debits. You also cannot apply for a microloan to start your business.

And this is precisely the problem that Ikualo wants to solve. This is the first step a person must take upon arrival on European territory. “In Europe and Spain, 98% of the population has bank accounts, so it is a very big problem for a person who comes and cannot access them.”says Correa. Moreover, in a conversation with El Independente, he explains that this is not only a problem for immigrants who come with little money, but also affects all social classes. Moreover, many companies that transport Latin American students to Europe have turned to Ikualo for help, since many of them are unable to open an account upon arrival.

“This is a project that unites the social sphere, technology and business,” notes the founder, who assures that the project is supported by first-class technologies using big data, artificial intelligence, biometrics… The goal is that an immigrant can open his account by simply scanning his passport and identifying his face. In 7 minutes the client already has an account in Spanish Iban.

There are currently about 21 million immigrants in Europe, and 75% of them continue to use cash because they cannot find another way until you get a residence permit two or three years later. “If we bring this population into the financial system, it will be good for everyone, because they pay taxes, because the economy is moving.”says Correa.

He regrets that no financial institution has recognized the problem of exclusion faced by this population. He acknowledges that it is difficult for large banks to move the whole “ship” to provide access, and that is why fintech is necessary. “Almost the entire crew (there are currently 12 people between London and Valencia Shuttle) are immigrants who have experienced this problem first-hand,” he says.

Ikualo does not want to have personal offices, he only has technology, his forte, and also a database. Therefore, everything is done through the application, with the help of which the client can carry out all the procedures offered to him: bank account, direct debit payments, debit card (online or physical), microloans, health insurance, remittance and repatriation insurance.

These last two services are most in demand by potential clients of Ikualo. “Quick money transfer is what they want most.”. At exchange offices it takes 24 hours and we guarantee that with a Visa card it will be delivered to another Visa card in 165 countries in one minute,” explains Correa. They also offer repatriation insurance because everyone wants to ensure that if something happens to them outside the country, they can be transferred.

At the moment, they have an electronic money license, the same one that already well-established neobanks in Spain, such as N26 or Revolut, started with. Therefore, they hope that their development will be the same as theirs and in a few years they will be able to sell other products. Yes, they have a mortgage, but to finance housing in the country of origin. However, Harold Correa explains that the next step will be to enter into agreements with the banks here in Spain, so that the client receives a mortgage from this organization, but remains a client of Ikualo.

“We are doing everything gradually. “We don’t want to die from success.”, notes the founder. And he often repeats this phrase throughout the interview. Because, as he explains, Íkualo was launched in November of this year for 100 people with whom they will test what works, what doesn’t work, doubts and fears. It will soon open to another 1,000 people, and this will happen gradually. They already have 37,000 people on the waiting list, but they know that this is a startup, that if they open to everyone at once they might collapse, so “we’re going to open as funding rounds come in.” Now they could open to 20,000, but they prefer to go step by step, “so as not to die from success,” he repeats.

Become a client of Ikualo has a “low” monthly cost. “We don’t want to drown our customers, we want to accompany them,” says Harold Correa. In fact, they conducted a survey and concluded that this monthly rate could be three times higher than now, but “we make money through other services and this is a social project,” notes the founder.