María del Carmen Peña Álvarez

A bill recently presented by Mexican Senator Ricardo Monreal banning some bank fees has been the topic of debate, creating a space for bankers and the government to discuss the topic. In the article “Are bank fees high in Mexico?” published in the newspaper El Financiero, BBVA Bancomer Chief Economist Carlos Serrano Herrera presents information to keep in mind in order to reach some common ground on the issue.

BBVA Bancomer has been crowned as the most innovative bank in Latin America in this year’s edition of British publication Global Finance's The Innovators 2018 awards, which recognize the institutions that systematically identify new businesses and design new financial tools. With this award, the magazine acknowledges the institution’s value proposal, which includes a customer-centric data-based user-friendly design, developed in collaboration with the fintech ecosystem.

‘World Finance’ magazine has selected BBVA Bancomer as the Best Digital Bank in Mexico 2017, and its Bancomer Móvil app as the country´s Best Mobile Banking application.  These two accolades in the latest edition of the ‘World Finance Banking Awards’ recognize BBVA Bancomer ‘s ongoing efforts to promote digital banking in Mexico. They also underscore the challenge that the financial sector faces in using technology to transform the user experience.

 - Openpay is a Mexican startup that offers an advanced platform of physical and electronic payments for businesses. Created with software developers in mind, the platform offers a wide range of online payment solutions and functionalities, outstanding among which are its sophisticated anti-fraud models.

Currently, Openpay has a network of more than 15,000 payment reception points in Mexico, connected in real time through its Paynet network, and manages more than one million transactions a month. The Openpay platform is used by more than 1,000 businesses in Mexico, from startups to SMEs and large corporate clients.

- The synergies between BBVA Bancomer and Openpay will multiply the commercial capacities of both companies, complement their catalogue of products for corporate clients and allow them to strengthen their payment solutions.

- BBVA Bancomer supports the entrepreneur ecosystem through its Innovation Center and propels fintech companies with its Open Talent (OT) competition. It also promotes direct associations with startups to validate their business models and offers financial services to benefit customers. Openpay was a finalist in Open Talent 2015, in an event that involved 652 projects from 63 countries and close to 200 experts.

The banking sector has undergone significant changes in recent years and BBVA Bancomer has placed a special emphasis on including groundbreaking work methodologies, capable of strengthening communication with customers, at the core of the transformation. The goal is to create opportunities that allow the Bank to be there, whenever and wherever the customer needs it, through digital solutions that revolutionize their experience.

According to the BBVA Bancomer Foundation, education is one of the factors that have a bigger impact on the development of people. Besides expanding knowledge, education broadens culture, instills values, helps develop a different view of the world and promotes human growth.

The structural reforms approved in Mexico in 2013 will allow growing the potential growth rate in the medium term. The measures are intended to make the economy more competitive. If their implementation process is adequately concluded, they may add up to one percentage point to the potential growth of the country.