Digital economies across the Americas are expanding rapidly, presenting both new opportunities and risks. As a largely mobile-first region, there is widespread innovation, especially in payments. At the same time, bad actors are exploiting technologies and processes, putting this progress at risk.
That is why we are excited to announce the launch of the FIDO Americas Adoption Forum (FAAF). This is a new initiative designed to advance open standards and accelerate market adoption across the region. It aims to uncover new opportunities to provide simpler and safer authentication with FIDO technologies in the Americas. Initially, the Forum will be focused in Latin America, given its potential.
The opportunity
In many Latin America markets mobile internet penetration exceeds 70% and populations are digitally active at very high levels. For example, Brazil’s “Pix” instant payment system has been adopted by over 90% of adults. That kind of uptake signals both technological readiness and a massive user appetite for frictionless experiences.
But rapid digitization brings challenges. Credit card fraud rates across Latin America are 97% higher than North America, and legacy authentication is failing to stop malware attacks that have risen by 113% in the region, with 79% of fraud occurring on mobile devices. Bad actors are also exploiting new threat vectors. Looking at Brazil again, deepfakes in Q1 2025 occur at five times the rate seen in the US and ten times the rate in Germany.
These conditions create an urgent need for phishing-resistant authentication technology that puts trust and simplicity at the center of digital interactions. With FIDO adoption in the relatively early stages across much of the region, the impact that can be achieved by shaping adoption and solving these security gaps is enormous.
Our Approach
The FAAF will focus on fostering a local community of industry leading organizations and experts to address the specific technical, regulatory, and business challenges of the region. We are drawing on FIDO’s model that has proven successful in driving adoption of open, phishing-resistant standards across the globe, including our APAC Marketing Forum, while adapting to regional dynamics. This includes:
- Local champions: We will identify leaders to advocate for interoperable standards within their markets and connect global best practices to local needs.
- Education and enablement: We will bring FIDO expertise to stakeholders in key verticals – including banking, e-commerce, government, and airlines – through targeted webinars and workshops.
- Regulatory engagement: We will help regulators understand how FIDO standards can support national security and economic objectives.
- Regional insights: We will channel feedback from the Forum to ensure FIDO specifications and market enablement activity address real-world deployment challenges.
Help drive FIDO adoption in the region
We’re starting with quarterly calls focussed on understanding the opportunities, challenges and nuances of the Latin American markets. This will include FIDO members from the region and those with interest and operations there. We will also explore bringing in external speakers to share their expertise on regulation, industry trends, and other topics of interest.
A major part of our initial work will focus on understanding the regulatory environment in key markets, and identifying opportunities to engage with regulators to educate them about FIDO.
If you are a FIDO member, look out for a formal invitation to join the Forum soon. We will follow this with our official kick-off call in the coming weeks.
The opportunity in Latin America is significant. I hope you will join us in bringing greater trust and simplicity to digital interactions across these dynamic markets.
