Foreign banks are under attack in Mexico for charging high fees although the criticisms have been rejected by the Mexican Association of Banks. In September, Oscar Levin, head of the Mexican government’s banking consumer protection agency, sided with those taking a bleak view of Mexico’s banking system by delivering a report that slammed the institutions for charging high financial service fees.

One of the thorniest chapters of Mexico’s 1994-95 financial meltdown may be closing. In mid-July, four of the country’s biggest foreign-owned banks – Citigroup-controlled Banamex, HSBC of the UK, BBVA Bancomer, the local unit of Spain’s Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, and Mexican-run Banorte – agreed to absorb nearly $830m in bad loans that the government took on in return for bonds in order to help save the banks following the peso crash.

Mexico’s prospects look bright but, as Monica Campbell reports, politicians are resentful that the dominant – and prosperous – foreign banks are not doing enough to help the local population.

Mexico’s economy has turned a corner, says finance minister Francisco Gil Díaz. However, much still depends on its giant neighbour, the US.
After several years of economic stagnation, Mexico appears to be turning a corner. The manufacturing industry, led by the maquiladora (in-bond assembly for export) sector, is hiring again. Exports earnings, including those generated by the crucial oil sector, are also up – no small thing, considering exports make up about 25% of Mexico’s economic activity. Interest rates are also trending down and inflation is under control.

Political upheaval can translate into easy money for the financial sector – despite what the bankers might say, argues Jonathan Wheatley.

Monica Campbell reports from Mexico City on why investment bankers’ optimism has not been dented by the slumping economy and political frustration.

Vicente Fox, Mexico's president, has been determined to combat corruption in government so he can move ahead with economic improvements. Karina Robinson meets him.

Guillermo Ortiz looks thoroughly at home in his opulent offices at the Central Bank of Mexico. But, as he points out, in the early 1980s he was already ensconced in the Bank’s economic research bureau.