Enter Aplazo. Founded in late 2020 by Angel Peña and Alex Wieland, the fintech platform has established itself as the category leader in the Mexican Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) landscape. Rather than replicating the predatory lending loops that have historically plagued consumer finance in the region, Aplazo was engineered to act as a fair, simple, and completely transparent alternative payment network. As we map out the defining fintech forces of 2026, Aplazo stands out not merely as a payment processing layer, but as a core macroeconomic utility driving financial equity and merchant acceleration across Latin America.