CASE 01
Simple DeFi / Automatic Yield
From custody balances to revenue-generating AUM
Prepared for Revolut
Four case studies on scaling financial products
A portfolio by Federico Cortina
Product Marketing & Growth leader for fintech, credit, crypto and wealth.
The portfolio
Why these cases are relevant to Revolut
Revolut's 2025 Annual Report points to a clear direction: becoming the customer's primary financial platform, growing balances and Wealth penetration, and scaling broader financial products with discipline. These cases show how I move from surface growth to business-value growth — activating AUM, identifying high-value users, and applying controlled, data-driven models that transfer to Wealth expansion.
Primary financial relationship
Annual report signal
Customers choosing Revolut as their primary bank grew 45% YoY, ahead of total customer growth.
Portfolio proof
High-Value User Strategy shows how I identify, activate and acquire users with higher expected balance, AUM and relationship potential.
Wealth & AUM opportunity
Annual report signal
Customer balances reached GBP 50.2B (+66%). Wealth grew to ~GBP 663M and represented 14.7% of the revenue mix — down from ~16.4% as the rest of the business grew faster, leaving clear room to increase penetration.
Portfolio proof
Simple DeFi / Automatic Yield shows how I converted idle custody balances into revenue-generating AUM by focusing on the users who actually moved the metric.
Scalable financial-product growth
Annual report signal
Revolut is scaling broader financial products, including credit, while deepening customer relationships across more products and markets.
Portfolio proof
The Mercado Crédito cases show how I scale complex financial products responsibly — expanding access with control and using propensity models to prioritize the right product for the right user.
Revolut figures sourced from Revolut Group Holdings Ltd Annual Report 2025. Portfolio cases and impact metrics are Federico Cortina case-study materials.
CASE 01Ripio · Crypto
Simple DeFi / Automatic Yield
From custody balances to revenue-generating AUM
I shifted growth from enabling users to activating the assets that actually generate AUM and recurrent revenue.
Business context
Ripio's revenue was tied to trading cycles — strong in bull markets, volatile otherwise. The untapped opportunity was assets already held in custody: AUC that was not activated as revenue-generating AUM. Simple DeFi / Automatic Yield let users activate eligible assets to generate yield automatically after a one-time enable.
Opportunity / insight
Adoption looked fine by enabled users, but AUM was not moving. Many enablers had low balances, while a small group of low-engagement users held the assets that could actually move the metric.
Key insight
A small user segment held a disproportionate share of AUC. That changed the strategy from broad enablement to asset activation.
Solution — what I led
I redefined success around activated AUC/AUM, prioritized users with meaningful custody balances, and used high-touch concierge channels where expected AUM justified the cost.
Execution & collaboration
I led strategy, segmentation and execution planning across Product, Data, CX, Commercial and owned channels. Paid media was deliberately not central — the goal was activating existing balances.
Impact
~60%
eligible AUC activated, amount-based
~80%
high-AUM users enabled Simple DeFi
3 months
most progress within a ~6-month initiative
Learning
The biggest lever was not more adoption volume, but activating the assets that actually moved AUM and recurrent revenue.
CASE 02Ripio · Crypto
High-Value User Strategy
From mass acquisition to value-based growth
I moved growth from mass acquisition to value: same budget, but activating and acquiring more affluent high-potential users.
Business context
Ripio needed to grow AUM as the base for stable, recurring revenue. But user value was highly uneven: a mass-market user and an affluent user could both complete KYC, yet their impact on AUM was completely different.
Opportunity / insight
The opportunity had two sides: improve first-trade activation among affluent high-potential users already entering, and bring more of that profile into the funnel. After KYC, profiles could be enriched with third-party compliant financial signals to estimate purchasing power and classify users earlier — and not all acquisition sources were equal, some brought low-quality volume while others brought fewer but higher-potential users.
Value-based growth logic
Same budget, better user quality. Focus shifted from acquisition volume to expected AUM and LTV potential.
Solution — what I led
I built a value-based growth strategy: concierge activation for high-value users, source-quality analysis, stronger paid-media signals, and value-based tiers such as Platinum and Black.
Execution & collaboration
I led the shift across paid, CRM, WhatsApp, commercial, BI/Data and lifecycle. I also built Metabase dashboards for high-value share, activation by segment and source quality.
Impact
7% → 11%
high-value share of acquisition
1% → 4%
first-trade activation among high-value users
Together, these improvements created a much larger pool of activated high-value users without increasing budget.
Learning
In AUM-driven products, growth quality matters more than acquisition volume.
CASE 03Mercado Crédito / Mercado Pago · Regional
Scaling Credit Beyond the Pre-approved Base
From selective risk approval to scalable credit growth
I redesigned the growth model itself — a controlled path that let far more users enter credit without breaking portfolio risk.
Business context
Even after propensity models improved activation, the business hit a ceiling: the pre-approved base was too small to scale originations. Risk protected the portfolio, but the base was often more banked and lower-intent.
Opportunity / insight
The constraint was not only visibility. Growth depended too heavily on a narrow pre-approved base. The opportunity was to let more users apply, start small, observe repayment behavior, and expand limits for those who performed well.
Controlled growth model
Apply for a credit lineInitial limitBNPL first useRepayment behaviorHigher limitsLoans / cards
Solution — what I led
I pushed for an apply-for-credit-line flow, with low initial limits and BNPL as the first entry product, tied to a real purchase or payment moment.
Execution & collaboration
I worked at the intersection of marketing, growth, strategy and internal influence. I aligned Risk, Product, Finance, Legal, CRM, Paid, Marketplace and Mercado Pago around a controlled-growth GTM engine.
Impact
4M+
monthly active users using Mercado Crédito
USD 2B+
portfolio value
The apply-for-credit-line model became a key growth engine for Mercado Crédito, helping the business scale access and originations while keeping risk exposure managed through low initial limits and repayment-based progression.
Learning
Credit growth requires balancing speed, risk and user intent. A low-risk base can be healthy, but not scalable enough.
CASE 04Mercado Crédito / Mercado Pago · Regional
Predictive Credit Activation
From credit eligibility to credit intent
I used a first-time-use propensity model to decide who should see Mercado Crédito — and proved it with tests to win over other teams.
Business context
Mercado Crédito is the credit ecosystem inside Mercado Libre and Mercado Pago — installments, payments, loans and cards on one credit line. The objective was to scale originations healthily.
Opportunity / insight
A large base had available lines but had never used the product: eligibility is not intent. A line did not mean intent. Mercado Crédito, Mercado Pago and Marketplace also competed for the same surfaces with no clear prioritization.
Prioritization logic
- High credit adoption propensity: prioritize Mercado Crédito messaging and placements.
- Low credit adoption propensity: reduce credit pressure or prioritize other products.
- Checkout intent plus credit propensity: surface Mercado Crédito as a relevant payment option.
Solution — what I led
I identified the need for a first-time-use propensity model, defined the logic with Risk, Data and Business, and translated the score into marketing and product prioritization.
Execution & collaboration
I ran cohort tests with control groups and used the results to convince Marketplace and Mercado Pago teams to adopt the same logic — the model moved beyond CRM into Marketplace, Mercado Pago and checkout prioritization.
Impact
80–90%
higher first-time use activation vs non-credit messaging (high-propensity users)
~1.5x
checkout lift from propensity-based payment prioritization
Learning
Product Marketing can create impact not only by communicating a product, but by defining where and when that product should appear.
About Federico
I run Product Marketing as a business lever, not a communication layer
I am a Product Marketing & Growth leader with 10+ years of fintech experience, working across payments, credit, crypto and wealth. I have led regional growth initiatives across Argentina, Brazil and Mexico, partnering with Marketing, Product, Risk, Data, Finance, Commercial and Lifecycle teams.
Business-first
I start from the objective, KPI and economic driver before choosing a solution.
Find the real metric
I look past surface adoption to what moves the business: AUM, originations, revenue.
Segment by value
I prioritize users and cohorts by expected business impact, not audience size.
Match investment to value
High-touch where it pays back; scalable channels everywhere else.
Lead cross-functionally
I align Product, Risk, Data, Finance, Commercial and Marketing, often winning teams with tests.
Keep improving
I use experiments and feedback loops to scale what works and stop what does not.
- 10+
- years of fintech experience
- 45M+
- users reached
- 4M+
- MAUs scaled
- USD 2B+
- portfolio value
- USD 10M+
- budget scope
Let's talk
Available to discuss growth, Wealth and financial-product strategy.