Technology has long reached financial services in Mexico, with the arrival of neobanks and fintech, efforts have been made to ensure that banking services reach more people in the country in order to consolidate a process known as financial inclusion.
For Álvaro Vértiz, a lawyer specializing in financial issues, the offer of institutions with a technological and digitalization trend will be responsible for reversing the low financial inclusion that exists in Mexico.
“I think that something that we will be seeing in a government like that of Claudia Sheinbaum, who has spoken both about the issue of digitalization and as a very important pillar in relation to her policies. In the financial part it has to be understood in the same way,” commented the specialist in an interview.
The common objectives of these institutions, according to Vértiz, are to offer more products and services to their clients and for them to reach more Mexicans every day.
“That they have financial tools as a means of growth and social mobility,” he noted.
He added that a third point is to create a “much more competitive” plan for the purposes of generating better conditions and costs for the benefit of users of financial services in general, which can be credits, savings accounts, investment, insurance and others.
According to the specialist, Mexico occupies the last place in adoption of digital financial services. The Financial Inclusion Panorama 2023 estimates that only 25% of the population has access to this type of products, when countries like Brazil or Chile exceed 50%.
¿Fintech o neobanco?
However, the question remains: What is a fintech and what is a neobank? On the one hand, in recent years the term fintech has become popular, which refers to those financial entities that use technology to provide their services. However, it is a concept that can fall into generality and does not necessarily include a all digital financial institutions.
“Fintech is used in digital channels or digital innovation to offer financial services in a more accessible, personalized and efficient way. So it has to do above all with the company’s ability to use advanced and digital technologies to provide a financial product or service,” explained the jurist.
Within the field of fintech, we can find Cooperative Savings and Loan Societies (Socap), Multiple Purpose Financial Society (Sofom), Popular Financial Societies (Sofipos), from this last classification derive, perhaps, the best known, such as Kubo Financiero , Finsus, Klar, Mercado Pago or NU Bank, which, it should be noted, three of the aforementioned have already requested a license from the National Banking and Insurance Commission. Securities (CNBV) to operate as multiple banking institutions.
According to Vértiz, compared to traditional banking, fintech companies operate without the need for physical branches, which makes them completely digital.
Traditional banks, such as BBVA, Citibanamex, Banorte or Santander, still depend on a physical infrastructure to interact with their customers. However, fintech companies seek to offer a completely digital experience, where products are consumed through online platforms.
He explained that in the case of fintech companies in Mexico, many of them have identified a market niche neglected by traditional banks, such as the lack of access to financial products for marginalized or underserved sectors. In addition, he pointed out that they seek to create products more adapted to the needs of users, with a customer-focused digital experience.
However, Álvaro Vértiz said that some fintech companies in the Sofipo sector do not reach the sector that other institutions of the same nature do. That is to say: Klar’s market is not the same as Came’s, he exemplified.
In agreement, specialist Gabriela Zapata Álvarez commented that the fintech companies operating in Mexico “overbank” the population and do not end up reaching people who truly lack financial services.
The expert pointed out that these institutions offer services to those who already have a digital account or other products.
For the expert, as fintech continues to grow, questions also arise about how regulations should evolve to adapt to these new forms of business, without jeopardizing the protection of the end user.
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He commented that regulation should be more flexible and allow companies that operate digitally to offer a broader range of financial products, without having to resort to traditional licenses from banks or financial institutions.
On the other hand, there are neobanks, where, for example, Hey Banco, from Banregio, participate; Bineo, from Banorte, Openbank, from Santander, Ualá.
Vértiz commented that neobanks are a category within digital financial companies that operate completely digitally, without having physical branches.
These banks, although often associated with fintech, are different in that they offer traditional financial services such as bank accounts, loans, and cards.
Its business model is completely focused on the digitalization and optimization of the user experience through advanced technological platforms, he noted, highlighting that a neobank is not exactly a fintech, although “it has touches.”
Regardless of the type of digital financial institution, Vértiz commented that the great challenge for the Mexican authority is to guarantee efficient regulation that guarantees the protection of users.
“It seems to me that it is up to the public sector, the regulatory sector, to allow these companies to always continue growing and obviously taking care of users and mitigating the risks they entail,” he concluded.
According to data from the 2024 National Financial Inclusion Survey, at the end of December last year, commercial banking had 112.7 million accounts, or 69% of the total; with BBVA, Banco Azteca and Citibanamex as the main banks.
In the case of Sofipos, the sector has 10.6 million accounts or 7% of the total, with Libertad, NU México and Came as the main attracting institutions.
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