On Wednesday the 25th, six banking institutions that operate in Mexico announced that they formed an alliance that they called Multired. It is an alliance of ATMs that, according to the institutions that comprise them, is the largest in the country, in which balance inquiries and cash withdrawals can be carried out at no cost for the clients of these banks.
The signatory banks are HSBC, Scotiabank, BanBajío, Banco Inbursa Banregio and Banca Mifel. The agreement will benefit around 13 million users with a estimated monthly savings of 42 million pesos in commissions that customers will no longer pay to banks when they want to withdraw money from any of these ATMs, in addition to checking the balance of their accounts. According to the announcement, the agreement is immediate; that is to say, since yesterday the clients of the banks enjoy this benefit.
Mexican banking market will be reconfigured
In the coming months the Mexican banking market will surely have another face. From the outset, they were already late in assigning the winner for the bid on Citibanamex’s retail banking assets that, as we know, Citigroup put up for sale since last year. Supposedly the name of the buyer of the historic Mexican bank would be known last December, later it was said that no later than January; We are already in the final stretch of the month, so the decision is already beginning to suffer a certain delay. The closest rumor, at the time, was that a group of investors led by the mining businessman Germán Larrea would finally buy the bank, but so far they are just that: rumors.
What is a fact is that the national banking market will change, with Banamex entering a new stage and some operational alliances such as the one mentioned at the beginning of the article, with the idea of facilitating access to services and information for banking users. banking.
It is very probable that relevant adjustments will not initially be registered in the sites occupied by each one of the banks according to the different indicators, these have been very well defined for several years and something extraordinary would have to happen for it to be modified, although depending on Whoever stays with Banamex could make a big change, as long as the one doing so is a current bank. Until now, the only institution that has not officially announced its withdrawal from the process is Banca Mifel.
Until the end of 2022, BBVA dominated the credit portfolio market without problem with 23.7 percent of the grand total; Banorte followed by far in second place with 14.8 percent; Santander was in third place with 13.3 percent and Banamex was right away with 10 percent of the total portfolio.
If, for example, Banca Mifel were to buy Banamex’s assets, it would suddenly place itself in fourth place in the loan portfolio, with 11 percent of the total market, since it now only has 1 percent and would add 10 percent of Banamex, but it would not be enough to unseat Santander from third place.
However, there is something more to this dance of figures and strategies in the banking sector; Without saying so, it seems that we are facing a strategy to reposition some institutions, and above all prepare to fight against the unstoppable advance of Fintech.
Fintech, unstoppable progress
Although the Fintech sector in Mexico is barely developing, its progress is unstoppable; in fact, they already surpass several banking institutions in the essential area of the business, that of credits.
According to the figures of the National Banking Securities Commission (CNBV), four Fintech, of the most important as Konfio and AlphaCredit they have injected credit resources to the SME sector for 8 thousand 600 million pesos in the last two years.
Another fact, fintech Konfíowhich has a total credit portfolio of around 5.3 billion pesos, already has an asset base greater than the credit portfolios for SMEs of banking institutions such as Bancrea, Bansi and ABC Capital.
In this context, the cost structure is essential; Although many small banks do not have bank branches because they are dedicated exclusively to the corporate segment, they have to absorb office costs and the development of technology is lower than that of the Fintech sector. As we know, Fintech companies have their essence in technology, they were born thanks to this factor.
So, some traditional banks may have realized that, as they say colloquially in Mexico, “they get their batteries” or disappear. All the credits of the sector The emergence of Fintech came to show that there is a lot of room for expansion for banking services, but banks now have a staunch competitor in these startups.
The arrival of this, which they have called the “The nation’s largest ATM alliance“Deep down, it seems to be a reaction and a step towards a new, more competitive bank, with technology that reduces or eliminates costs for its users. The Mexican banking system will give a lot of news in this 2023.
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