On Sept. 10 2018, Mexico’s Fintech law finally comes into play.
On March 23 2017, a draft for a Financial Technology Law (the Law) was published in Mexico to open the discussion between the financial industry and the Minstry of Finance and Public Credit from the Mexican banking and financial industry. The bill will also amend other existing financial services laws.
The Law will regulate the organization, operation, functioning and authorization of companies that offer alternative means of access to finance and investment, the issuance and management of electronic payment funds and the exchange of virtual assets or cryptocurrency (the Financial Technology Institutions, or FTIs).
This FinTech initiative formally introduces several widely used concepts that are in the industry to the regulatory framework, such as big data, crowdfunding, cryptocurrency, e-money, regulatory sandboxes, robo advisory and application programming interfaces. Hence, this law would affect crowdfunding, online payments, and cryptocurrency companies. It’s worth pointing out that the official emphasized the flexibility in the legislation.
Companies wishing to enter the regulatory framework can now start doing so, in a 6-12 month process.
Anti-money laundering (AML) reports will be handled through Mexico’s Ministry of Finance’s new Financial Intelligence Unit, comments Sandro Garcia Rojas, assistant manager of Preventive Processes Supervision at the CNBV.
