Miranda’s Mex Fintech Monitor

March 13, 2023

Mexico FinTech News 

Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and Mexico 

As with VCs and StartUps everywhere, Mexico’s breathed a massive sigh of relief on Sunday evening when the FDIC/Fed/Treasury came to the rescue and guaranteed deposits at Silicon Valley Bank. Many Mexican VCs and StartUps had managed to transfer their money out of SVB on Thursday morning, but many could not in time or were not willing to participate in the bank run. Had the rescue not happened, the consequences for those without access to moneywould have been catastrophic and highly negative for the broader Mexican VC ecosystem.  However, lessons will need to be learned, and they may not be positive for the smaller, undercapitalized deposit, wealth and payments FinTechs. After what happened with SVB we may see a flight to quality. The question of who, if anyone, will replace SVB as the bank of choice for Mexican VCs and startups remains and what the new banking costs and availableproducts will be. While the worst-case scenario has been fortunately avoided, there will still be important ramifications. 

Ley FinTech turns five 

March 8 marked the 5^th anniversary of Mexico’s famed Ley FinTech which regulates wallets and crowdfunding and called for secondary regulation on open banking and cryptocurrencies.But the regulation has largely failed to meet high expectations. Since its enactment, the National Banking and Securities Commission (CNBV), the regulator tasked with approving authorization requests, has only approved 17 crow funding platforms and 32 wallets; a total of 49 companies.It would not be unreasonable to assume that hundreds of companies have been awaiting approval for years.