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The globalization of Mexican banking began in early 1994
with the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which
represented a significant step away from the country’s
history of a closed banking system. The peso devaluation
of December 1994 subsequently put Mexico’s banks on
the brink of failure. Since then, however, Mexico has made
numerous moves to stabilize both its economy and financial
system, including further liberalization of foreign banking
restrictions.
This process of deregulation, coupled with technological
and economic factors propelling a general trend toward globalization,
recently culminated in the foreign acquisition of the three
largest Mexican banks, all within less than 18 months. As
a result, Mexico is the largest economy in the world where
such an overwhelming majority of commercial bank assets
—almost 80 percent—are controlled by foreign
financial institutions. As such, Mexico provides a fertile
testing ground for assessing the merits of the arguments
for and against financial globalization. While this new
phase in Mexico’s modern history is only just beginning,
the early evidence strongly favors an open policy toward
global banking.
Press
Financial Times (London, England)
Banks
feel heat in Mexico: Report says foreign institutions are
charging more than they do elsewhere, says John Authers
John Authers
September 10, 2004
A government report claims that
banks in Mexico are concentrating on raising commissions
to the exclusion of increasing lending. The report says
that foreign banks, which account for 81 per cent of banking
assets in Mexico, are charging far more than they do for
equivalent products in other countries, and that they are
not making the investments necessary to expand Mexico's
still under-developed banking system. The Mexican Banks
Association responded by saying that it agreed with neither
the methodology nor the data that the report had used, and
that “in the aggregate, the prices of banking services
in [Mexico] have cheapened significantly".
Rockford Register Star (Rockford, IL)
Mexican
Consulate in Rockford to hand out identification cards
Carrie Watters
July 24, 2004
The mobile Mexican Consulate came
to Rockford to helping Mexican citizens living there to
acquire the Mexican government-issued Matricula Consular
Car. The card makes it easier to travel back to Mexico.
It also makes it possible for the bearer to pay taxes, to
open bank accounts, and to establish credit, which will
help Mexicans escape the abusive predatory loans they are
forced to take because big banks won’t do business
with them.
The World Bank
A
Power Point Presentation on the Unbanked in Mexico
May, 2004
Integrating the
Poor into the Mainstream Financial System:
The BANSEFI and SAGARPA Programs in Mexico
Lisa Taber, with Carlos Cuevas
and inputs from Juan Navarrete and Gabriela Zapata
Bansefi
Strategic
Aspects of the Governmental Policy to Increase Access to
Financial Services
Rural
Finance: Savings Mobilization Potential and Deposit Instruments
in Marginal Areas in Mexico.
Carlos E. Cuevas and Pilar Campos
PR Newswire
Citizens
South Bank Launches Strategic Alliance with Banorte, Mexico's
Fourth Largest Financial Institution
October 18, 2004
BANSEFI Technical Note No. 1
Strategic Aspects of Governmental Policy to Increase Access to Financia Services
February 7, 2005
BANSEFI & SAGARPA Programs in Mexico
Integrating the Poor into the Mainstream Financial System
February 7, 2005
EIU Business Latin America (Mexico)
Consumer Goods and Retailing: Mexico
March 21, 2005
EIU Views Wire (Mexico)
Mexico Industry: Tiendas Coppel Applies For Banking License
March 24, 2005
Business Wire (Mexico)
Direct Response Financial Services Enters into Agreement with Poder de Compra, Mexico for 50,000 cards
March 30, 2005
EIU Business Latin America
Financial Service & Underbanked in Mexico
April 4, 2005
Forbes Magazine Vol. 175, No. 8
Citigroup in Mexico
April 18, 2005
El Universal (Mexico)
U.S. Federal Reserve Gives Banks the Remittance Program for Mexican Market
May 31, 2005
Scripps Howard News Service
Domestic News: Thieves Target Immgrant Labourers in Rural California
May 31, 2005
BANSEFI & The World Bank
Shanghai Conference Report "Scaling Up Poverty Reduction"
May 31, 2005
Legislation
Contact
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