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 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.