Banking

Mexico’s banking industry enjoys high capital adequacy ratios and is benefitting from robust profit margins. While some stakeholders have pointed to the sector’s conservative approach as a reason for the slow progress in increasing penetration levels, the sector is in fact expanding financial services to a broader share of the population. Relative to the size of the Mexican economy, the country’s banking sector remains fairly small, dominated by a handful of large international bank groups. Banking profits climbed by 31.5% in 2017 to reach $7.4bn, and domestic credit to the private sector, including banking and non-banking sectors, reached 34.2% as a percentage of GDP in September 2017. The sector has also been successful in implementing various Basel III regulations, with major banks adequately adhering to capital and liquidity requirements. This chapter features an interview with Alejandro Díaz de León Carrillo, Governor, Banco de México.