Banco Inter S.A. (BOVESPA:BIDI4) and payments company StoneCo Ltd. (NasdaqGS:STNE) Ltd. are in talks to extend a current partnership agreement, including a potential merger, one source familiar with the matter said. StoneCo acquired a minority stake in Banco Inter in June 2021, as part of its strategy to attract the bank's clients to its payments services. The current talks come as StoneCo faces a BRL 400-million($75 million) loan loss with a newly launched credit operation.

The source added that both companies were in preliminary talks on a potential deal. Stoneco said it does not comment on rumors. Banco Inter did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

Brazilian newspaper Valor Economico reported earlier on September 24, 2021 on the talks.