Cobro Digital in Mexico: (Not) Everyone is Ready, but Here It Comes

Friday, September 27, 2019

By Brian Riley

Mexico’s Cobro Digital (CoDi) launches on October 1, affecting credit cards, debit cards, and non-cash payments, in a overhaul of non-cash payments intended to expand financial inclusion to this country’s 129 million people. The effort centers on financial inclusion for the country. Just 38% of adults in Mexico have a bank account, according to a 2017 World Bank survey, half the rate of other countries with similar per capita income.

As BNAmericas reports, CoDi is a state-owned version of WeChat Pay, for everything from hospital bills to metro rides.

  • Speaking in March ahead of the CoDi pilot programs, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) hailed the platform as a critical cooperative effort between the private and public sectors to boost lagging growth in financial inclusion and reduce fees associated with traditional POS terminals and credit/debit cards.
  • But nagging concerns exist both with security issues that continue to dog the nation’s interbank electronic payment system (SPEI) and a lack of visible promotion with only days to go before the launch.

Photo courtesy of PresidenciaRD.

Source: PaymentsJournal (link opens in a new window)

Categories
Finance
Tags
digital finance, digital payments, fintech