“The first step to access financial inclusion is through financial education, ” says Luis Silva de la Torre, Director of Fintech Mexico at the round table Financial Inclusion in Mexico: challenges and trends 20-21.
Changing the idiosyncrasy of Mexicans, the false beliefs about saving and managing digital money, as well as ending the fears of investing are the main challenges faced in the country, according to the executives who participated in the organized digital event by the fintech Ualá.
Santiago Salinas, director of the BIVA Institute, pointed out at the meeting that “the pandemic played against the promotion of financial inclusion”, but stressed that despite this, financial instruments have been placed in the new Stock Exchange.
On the other hand, the positioning of fintech companies in Mexico has been relevant to accelerate inclusion in a country that also faces labor informality, acknowledged the director of fintech Mexico. And he highlighted in one of his participations that “the objective of financial inclusion is to improve the welfare of the population.”
“The fintech revolution is what will make us change all that idiosyncrasy,” added Óscar Robles, Founder of CEO of ePesos.
Nowadays “the big banks have 98% of the market” and in them “workers with lower incomes are excluded”, says the executive ePesos. And he points out that this exclusion has been a space of opportunity for fintech companies .
On other hand, Mexico was the country in the region with highest growth in e-commerce last year, 35%, says Pierre Claude Blaise, general director of AMVO (Mexican Association of Online Sales), and points out that the confinement derived from the coronavirus in important steps for digitization and inclusion. Although it says “only 15% (of the population) manage an online account.”
“There is a lot missing,” he says. He adds that digital inclusion “is the first task that we must overcome in order for the digital economy to grow.”
In Mexico, there are 80.6 million Internet users and 86.5 million cell phone users, and only 1% of the population invests, out of fear and ignorance.
Pierpaolo Barberi, Founder and CEO of Ualá, pointed out at the virtual round table that “in Mexico there is talent, there is a competitive environment”, reasons that make the fintech enter the Mexican market this year , despite the regulation promoted by the CNBV (National Banking and Securities Commission) was delayed for reasons related to the pandemic.
A large sector of the Mexican population does not have access to financial services. In fact, according to the CNBV’s National Report on Financial Inclusion, only 68% of Mexicans are integrated into the financial system; consequently, 85% of total consumer spending in Mexico continues to be in cash .
