Azteca is finding it increasingly difficult to return those dollars in bulk shipments to the United States. Currently, US banks fear facing large fines from regulators even though Azteca has put in place a sophisticated system to prove those dollars come from legitimate businesses in its stores and bank branches, he said.
“We have many difficulties to export dollars. Every day it gets more complicated,” Valenzuela said in a March 24 telephone interview. “What do you do with the dollars that arrive in Mexico that cannot be returned? It is aberrant that the dollars cannot be returned, and the Mexican regulator has not wanted to take this issue to the United States to find a solution.”
Mexico’s central bank did not respond to a request for comment.
Early last year, the central bank promised it would help Mexican financial institutions that, amid money laundering fears, are unable to find US banks to take their cash reserves in bulk in dollars.
Over the past decade, US banks have become increasingly wary of handling massive cash shipments from Mexico in the wake of money laundering fines levied on HSBC Holdings Plc and Wells Fargo & Co.
Valenzuela said that the United States, Mexico and Canada needed to work on solutions for Mexican banks to comply with regulations and prove the legitimate source of the dollars they want to return.
“What we want to build with the US authority and the Mexican authority is under what rules these resources can flow back to the US,” he concluded.
