Mexico moves toward eliminating systemic risk from its Financial System
The Mexican government is taking direct action to restore trust in a financial sector that has recently been under scrutiny for alleged money laundering. Recently, the United States government confirmed that three Mexican financial institutions were directly involved in money laundering for criminal organizations (CIBanco, Interacciones, and the brokerage firm Vector). The National Banking and Securities Commission (CNBV) promptly intervened, ensuring the protection of users through effective asset sales processes. Banco Multivalores’ acquisition of CIBanco’s entire fiduciary operation marks a landmark achievement in the comprehensive cleanup of the Mexican financial system, positioning it as the largest fiduciary institution in Mexico. Furthermore, two new executives have been appointed to the Financial Intelligence Unit (UIF) and the CNBV to refresh and correct the past omissions that led to this situation of uncertainty. The new head of the UIF is one of the closest people to the Secretary of Federal Security, who is President Claudia Sheinbaum’s most trusted Secretary of State. For his part, the new head of the CNBV will help reduce the internal tensions that have arisen within the commission in recent years. These actions, along with the results of the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) ongoing evaluation of Mexico and the strengthening of collaboration with the US Department of the Treasury and other security agencies, are likely to reduce the risk to which the Mexican financial system is exposed.
