Mexico is set to be one of the world’s most profitable banking markets during the next few years. For almost a decade following the mid-1990s financial crisis, Mexico limped along virtually without a functioning banking system, as banks worked out bad loans and lent very little. But now, even with credit levels at a fraction of equivalent markets elsewhere, Mexico is showing up high on the profits’ radar of international banks.
“Mexico is the most important country after the US for Citigroup, no question about it,” says Manuel Medina-Mora, CEO of Grupo Financiero Banamex and president and CEO of Citi Latin America and Mexico. “When we were integrating with Citi [Banamex was purchased by Citi in 2001 and Mr Medina-Mora was Banamex’s CEO at the time], the Mexico and Japan [operations of Citi] used to be about the same size. There is no comparison today. Mexico is by far the more important market and Latin America has become a region as important [to Citi] and in some years, more important than either Europe or Asia,” he says.
