ChileTrust over speed
Chile is Latin America’s most financially included economy, and its 20 million citizens use formal financial services roughly three times as often as the regional average. For merchants, that makes Chile one of the region’s most predictable checkout environments. Here, trust is already established.
The way locals pay
Local payment methods to know
Online payments mix eCommerce 2026 projections
Debit, credit and borrowing
In Chile, merchants most often see the same debit card at checkout that consumers use to top up a transit card or split a dinner bill. Debit leads eCommerce payments at 44% of volume, with credit following at 35%, mostly to spread big-ticket purchases into installments rather than cover everyday spend, making installments a particularly important part of how Chileans use credit cards. Together, cards account for close to eight in 10 Chilean pesos spent online.
Travel and gaming are the two exceptions to Chile’s near-universal card dominance, breaking the card lock in different ways (A2A transfers vs. eWallets), before a flat wall of 82%+ card share across every other vertical.
- Cards (debit + credit)
- Account-to-account
- Digital wallet
- Cash / other
Cards take more than 80% of online spend across most eCommerce industries, while travel and gaming have a more varied payment mix.
For Chileans, trust is the currency that matters most. This has been proven by the way their payment habits move, from debit, into installments, through cards and now into transfers. We’re finding that merchants that earn that loyalty reap the benefits over the long term.
Webpay, Khipu and Fintoc gain traction
A2A transfers are growing. At 12% of volume, A2A is still a minority method, but increasing 16.5% in 2026, more than double the rate of either debit or credit cards. This growth is especially obvious in travel, where A2A makes up 27% of bookings (more than double its share in any other vertical).
Within this space, two real-time bank-transfer players stand out: Fintoc and Khipu, each with a different sweet spot. Fintoc is the faster option, with noticeably less friction than a standard bank transfer, particularly on higher-value transactions. Khipu, the more established one-click player, is proving stronger for smaller-ticket purchases and has already gained significant share.
eWallets sit at 6% of volume and are growing fast, 14% YoY, led by Mercado Pago, and Webpay remaining a major name. And cash still has a small foothold, with platforms like Sencillito and Servipag letting shoppers generate a voucher online and settle it in cash at a collection point. This volume is marginal next to cards and transfers.
For one of our merchants, Khipu went from under 4% of volume in its first month to 28.5% by month seven, accounting for nearly three in every 10 pesos processed.
- Khipu
- Other payment methods
At one of our merchants, Khipu went from a small share of payment volume to nearly three in every 10 pesos processed.
The rules are changing
Chile is home to a US$ 35.5 billion digital economy in 2026, up 8.3% on the year. This growth is cooling under soft mining output and a temporary inflation spike (both are expected to normalize by 2027), but still healthy. Cross-border eCommerce is growing regardless, up 11% to US$ 7.6 billion between 2025 and 2026, now more than a fifth of all online spend. As more commerce comes from abroad, the rules for foreign businesses selling into Chile are changing too.
For global merchants, one of those changes is tax. Chile’s tax authority (SII) has introduced a simplified VAT regime for certain foreign merchants and digital platforms selling or facilitating remote sales of low-value goods into the country. For businesses selling into Chile without a local presence, it adds another local requirement to understand and manage.
Data protection is catching up, too. Chile’s data protection law takes full effect on December 1, 2026, backed for the first time by a dedicated regulator, the Agencia de Protección de Datos Personales. Fines run up to 4% of annual income for the most serious, repeat violations. Increasingly, compliant, locally licensed processors in Chile will have the edge over those that operate purely cross-border.
