São Paulo – Born in Rio de Janeiro, Luiz Góes (pictured above) holds a degree in Military Sciences from the Agulhas Negras and has stood out in the United Arab Emirates as CEO of LYOPAY since June 2021. The digital payment platform provides over 30 services including international transfers, virtual cards, digital wallets, and cryptocurrencies. In Dubai only, the firm has 400 employees.
The Rio-born 39-year-old holds an MBA in Public Management and says he got ahead of the competition in the application process of the fintech based in Dubai, UAE, for being a Brazilian. “Not many people realize Brazil is a reference in the global banking system. Our identity goes beyond football and bossa nova to include disruptive things like bar codes — which we contributed to creating — open banking, outsourcing central banking, and pix, which is innovative across the world.”
Beyond his nationality, other traits led him to be chosen by the fintech, such as experience and networking. While he served a military officer in Brazil, Góes had experience in the financial and commercial market, until landing an investment consulting job in an Italian financial institution. From January 2018 to March 2019, he worked in the headquarters of the company on the 143rd floor of the world’s highest building, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai.
Despite working in the company for only a year, his presence was so remarkable a colleague suggested him for the CEO job at LYOPAY in 2021. “(Being hired) was a pleasant surprise as there were many people with resumés that were even more specific than mine was. But LIOPAY wanted someone who had a close relationship with the community and was a good communicator.”
Over his career in the financial market, Góes also served as a cryptocurrency business development consultant at Altcoin Lab, established his own company — asset tokenization platform LGBank — and worked as an Advisor Digital officer at the private office of sheikh Hamdan bin Ahmed Al Maktoum.
Regarding his tenure in Dubai, the CEO highlighted the growth in the bitcoin market. The cryptocurrency now has its own department, which categorized it as a commodity. He also saw the establishment of the Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMMC), the UAE’s leading free trade zone, where such companies can be established, and the Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA), a cryptocurrency regulator.
Presence in Arab countries and Brazil
LYOPAY was created by United Kingdom-based DIGILYO APP LTD and serves over 10 million clients in 82 countries across five continents. The ecosystem of the fintech in cludes 10 products offering over 30 services. LYOSWAP BOT, for example, is a Telegram bot for buying and selling cryptocurrency, while LYOTRAVEL is a travel platform for buying air tickets with bitcoin and altcoins.
Depending on the laws in effect in the country and the habits of the local population, one service or another can be preferred and be more highlighted. But according to Góes, one of the company’s most outstanding products is the Lyopay Card, a pre-paid card that allows you to buy both online and offline in over 150 countries. Of the list of service countries, 12 are Arab nations: Egypt, Morocco, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, Jordan, Syria, Algeria, and Sudan.
As for Brazil, the platform believes it to be a promising market with a growing financial industry and a large potential for adopting new financial technologies. One of the services by the fintech that stands out on Brazilian soil is Lyofi, developed in partnership with LGBank, which sells crypto whose minting is done by hardware. LYOPAY Pro will soon break into the national market so that Brazilians will be able to use it to buy, sell, withdraw and deposit crypto currencies.
Report by Rebecca Vettore, especially for ANBA
Translated by Guilherme Miranda
