Mr Levin’s comments came after his consumer protection agency, known as Condusef (The National Commission for the Protection and Defence of Financial Services Users), wrapped up a study of the local banking system. Although the report includes a broad view of the sector, it takes shots at Banamex, owned by US-based Citigroup, and Bancomer, the Mexican unit of Spain’s Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA), Mexico’s two largest banks. The study maintains that Banamex and Bancomer charge the highest fees of any Mexican bank for services such as credit cards, checking accounts and withdrawals from third-party cash machines. Regulators must step in and investigate their practices, says Condusef.
In recent years foreign players, including HSBC (UK) and Spain’s Banco Santander, have rushed into Mexico. Indeed, the country is a banking paradise, given its relatively stable economy, a large unbanked population and the $14bn in remittances sent to Mexico from relatives working abroad, which drum up attractive cross-border banking opportunities. Outsiders are also lured to the country’s maturing insurance and mortgage markets, the most recent example being BBVA’s $350m takeover of Mexico’s largest specialised mortgage lender, Hipotecaria Nacional.
