Addressing Financial Access in Mexico

August 20, 2010    

Mexico has considerably less financial service penetration than many of its middle-income peers in Latin America and other regions. In 2009 only 33% of the country’s municipalities had more than one bank branch, and there were only 45 ATMs and 15 bank branches per 100,000 people. There is also an uneven level of financial services offered between urban and rural populations within Mexico, leaving many rural communities without access to financial services.

There is growing interest among representatives of the government, banks, and other sectors to utilize banking agents to bridge the financial access disparities seen across Mexico. The hope is that through these agent networks, more Mexican citizens will be able to enjoy quality, consistent access to a range of basic financial products such as savings, bill payment, money transfers, and microcredit.

To encourage knowledge sharing and to discuss innovative approaches that can help increase access to financial services in Mexico, CGAP, the National Banking and Securities Commission (CNBV), and the IFC are hosting an Agent Banking Seminar on 2-3 September 2010 in Mexico City.

The event will not only bring together key banking institutions, government representatives, and retailers from within Mexico, but also experienced providers from Brazil, Colombia, and Kenya, to provide insight into successful programs already available in their countries.

The topics to be discussed at the two-day workshop include:

• Developing the agent banking business in Mexico
• Regulating agent banking in Mexico
• Successful agent models from across the world, including Brazil
• The use of innovative approaches, such as pre-paid cards and interbank payments
  

For more information, see the workshop agenda, visit the conference page on the CNBV website, or contact Denise Dias, regional manager for CGAP.