Cofece is not doing its full job and puts in dilemma its partiality and above all its work against the citizenry, as stated by Senator Alejandro Armenta, president of the Finance Commission, who has already started two legal processes; one through Cofece itself and which must define its procedure on August 9 and another judicial route.
Let’s go by parts. It turns out that Citibanamex, chaired by Manuel Romo, and BBVA, led by Eduardo Osuna, are leading lawsuits by the Finance Commission, under the command of Alejandro Armenta, which since May 25, 2022, has filed with Cofece.
The cause. The lack of investigation and proceeding of this Commission under the command of María José Contreras de Velasco, Senator Armenta returns to make a call to Cofece. Last June he notified a prevention to clarify various technical points of the complaint and on the 5th of this month all the questions and information required by the authority were released.
At this time, Cofece is expected to admit and process the complaint, which must happen no later than August 9 in terms of legal deadlines, and initiate a comprehensive investigation in the card payment market, so that sanction behaviors that threaten competition in the financial system.
This research should not only focus on the clearinghouses, but on the market as a whole, considering the complete cycle of transactions: receiving cards at merchants, issuing cards to customers, and clearing are all involved.
And it is that, according to the Treasury Commission, they have detected that large banks exploit cardholders, detain businesses, prevent the entry of other purchasers and maintain high incomes.
Derived from the collusion of Banamex and BBVA, the following damages are generated:
Coordinating a drop in discount rates with businesses has the purpose and/or effect of displacing other banks and maintaining a dominant position on this side.
This is achieved by raising commission charges for the use of cards for consumers and thereby subsidizing the reduction of discount rates for businesses; generating that cardholders pay more commissions and interest rates to banks.
Without this translating into increasing bankarization, nor the financial systems translating into a better benefit for the user. How to explain that there are 1.7 billion unbanked adults in the world. Half of them live in 7 economies, and Mexico is one of them.
In addition to this, the percentage of the population with financial services in Mexico is one of the lowest in Latin America despite being the number 2 economy in the region and number 14 worldwide.
In Mexico, only 37% of the population saves in banks, below Peru (42%), Colombia (45%), Costa Rica (67%) and Brazil (70%). And a country that does not save is a country that does not invest and, therefore, a country that cannot grow any more.
From the preliminary investigations carried out by Cofece, it can be read that the large banks coordinate to determine prices and monitor agreements in the promotions of months without interest. And so far the Commission led by Contreras de Velasco has done little or almost nothing. Will it be that now it does carry out the corresponding investigations?
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Health, money and business
Co-founding partner, and host of the radio program Salud, Dinero y amor. Finance, business, economics, and wellness program.
