The annual conference of the Mexican Bankers Association (ABM) in Acapulco on March 22 and 23 will be anything but a routine affair. New left-wing president Andrés Manuel López Obrador, known as Amlo, is potentially the most powerful Mexican president in decades, given that he won 53% of the vote, has a majority in both houses of congress and control over several state legislatures. He has said he will attend. At the same time, Banco de México (Banxico), the country's central bank, will be launching a groundbreaking digital payments platform alongside the Mexican finance ministry, according to the conference organisers.
“Right now, the main thing that slows us down in the level of growth that we could achieve as a bank is the very low level of bankarisation,” says Carlos Hank González, chairman of Banorte, Mexico’s largest local bank. Indeed, including wider parts of the population in the financial services sector is something that could help Mr López Obrador’s in his plans to tackle poverty and inequality in the country.
