AI Drives Finance Transformation in Latin America: CFOs

AI is no longer a futuristic concept but a critical operational tool reshaping finance functions in Latin America’s retail and e-commerce industries. Industry leaders from Deloitte, Thomson Reuters, Microsoft, Mercado Libre, and others agree that AI adoption is essential for efficiency and for survival in an increasingly complex and competitive environment.

Gustavo Méndez, Financial Services Leader, Deloitte Latin America, highlights AI’s capacity to automate repetitive, manual processes still common in finance departments across the region. He urges executives to focus on areas like planning, reporting, accounts payable, reconciliations, consolidations, and tax reporting, where automation tools such as Blackline or Alteryx can manage up to 85% of reconciliation pattern matching.

“If you want to get the most out of AI, focus where the value is: in efficiency. That is where you can reach 50 to 80% of the potential,” Méndez said.

Méndez stresses the importance of data quality, noting most companies in Mexico are excellent, albeit running on spreadsheets. “If someone enters the formula wrong, your margin is gone.” He recommends moving beyond Excel to platforms like Anaplan, Workday, or Pigment, which integrate AI-driven predictive analytics and natural language processing.

Juan de la Peña, Tax Product Manager, Thomson Reuters, echoes the urgency. Citing a global survey where 77% of over 2,200 professionals expect AI to transform their work within five years, he reports measurable productivity gains, with AI users saving up to seven hours weekly through intelligent automation.

“We are seeing measurable productivity gains. Professionals who efficiently adopt AI are saving up to seven hours a week, just from intelligent automation,” de la Peña says. “The question is not whether AI is useful, but whether your organization can afford to be left behind.”

He warns of risks from irresponsible AI adoption, including inaccuracies and compliance challenges when AI models rely on unverified external data. De la Peña emphasizes that AI’s success requires ethical frameworks and cross-departmental collaboration.

“I use it to avoid meetings. I ask the AI to listen in, summarize the conversation, and send me the key takeaways,” said Juan Iranzo, CFO, Mercado Libre. Meanwhile, Bardo Gonzalez, CFO, Microsoft emphasized AI as a talent attractor and productivity booster. “Young professionals today expect access to generative AI tools. If we do not provide that, they will go somewhere else.” Corona, on the other hand, underscores that AI complements existing tools: “You do not have to stop using Excel. You can use Excel better with AI embedded into every step.” 

All experts agree that AI adoption demands culture change, experimentation, and communication. “We are all just getting started, there are no true experts yet,” Francisco Corona, CTO, Azure Latam, Microsoft notes, highlighting the importance of cybersecurity as AI becomes more predominant. “You cannot afford to have your company’s code sitting in a random employee’s personal AI tool. We have taken a more aggressive approach in securing usage and training our teams.”

De la Peña reinforces that AI is a leadership imperative: “When AI becomes part of your daily decision-making, it changes your company culture. It requires collaboration, ethics, and clarity about the results we expect.”

For finance leaders in retail and e-commerce, the path forward involves prioritizing operational efficiency gains through AI, ensuring data integrity, and embedding responsible AI governance. “The technology exists. What is missing is securing good data, adopting the tools, and changing how we work,” states Méndez.

This insights were shared during the Finance Gathering - AI in Finance, an exclusive event organized by the CFO club, The 1% of Financial Leaders.