Consorcios and Brazil’s Consumer Credit Innovation: A Thesis
What Brazil Can Teach Us About Scalable, Inclusive Finance
At StepLadder, we’ve always believed that community-powered finance is one of the most powerful tools for inclusion and economic growth. But Brazil took it one step further and built an industry around it.
This thesis by our founder, Matt Addison, dives deep into the Brazilian consórcio model - a commercialised form of ROSCA - and explores how it became one of the most successful alternative credit systems in the world.
Why it matters
With over 3 million active participants, Brazil’s consórcios operate at the intersection of:
💸 Accessible credit (without high interest rates)
🔄 Community-driven capital rotation
🏦 Institutional structure and trust
This paper offers rare insight into how informal finance, like our Circles model, can be scaled, regulated, and monetised, without losing its core values.
What makes consórcios more inclusive than loans or BNPL
How they spread risk, reward savings, and deliver credit
Why they continue to thrive in Brazil’s volatile credit market
What fintechs, MFIs, and regulators around the world can learn
The global relevance for ROSCAs, ASCA models, and Circles
Inside the thesis:
Matt’s thesis inspired us to create the next generation of community-first financial products at Circles powered by StepLadder. Talk to us if you’d like help introducing modern Circles to your savings product suite.
