The Association of Banks of Mexico (ABM), chaired by Emilio Romano, will seek to convince the Secretary of the Treasury, Édgar Amador, and the governor of the Bank of Mexico, Victoria Rodríguez Ceja, to modify their regulation proposal, currently in public consultation in Cofemer, to impose a cap on the commissions that banks charge businesses for accepting payments with debit and credit cards.
The aim of lower commissions for businesses is to encourage digital payments, reduce the use of cash and greater formalization of the economy because they consider that the main factor that inhibits many businesses from accepting card payments are the high commissions they have to pay to banks.
As we already mentioned, it is a measure that will hit all banks issuing debit and credit cards, mainly the largest ones, and bankers are worried not only about the impact on their income, but because it is the first cap on banking fees and commissions that could lead to imposing caps on other commissions.
Romano assured in this regard that the banks share with the authorities the objective of making the digital payment system more efficient and reducing the use of cash, but they consider that the reduction in costs should not only fall on the issuing banks but on the entire chain and on the acquiring banks that are the owners of the point-of-sale terminals, and act as intermediaries between the banks and the businesses.
He also acknowledged that many businesses do not accept card payments because they do not want to be inspected by the SAT.
The measure, as we mentioned in this column, surprised the bankers who are seeking to reach an agreement with the authorities this week.
Users will pay the price
Businesses will of course have the benefit of paying a lower commission for accepting card payments, which in the case of small businesses and service companies should translate into a stimulus to increase their sales.
For cardholders, the expected benefit is that a greater number of businesses throughout the country will accept payment with cards, but the great risk is that we, the users, end up paying the price because there will be an increase in the issuance, replacement and annual costs of the cards.
Damage insurance premiums will also increase
Also in the insurance sector we will pay the price because an increase in damage insurance premiums is expected after the agreement reached with the SAT, to withdraw from their litigation against it for nearly 200 million pesos, for the accreditation of VAT in the payment of compensation.
The insurers gave up their litigation, and the SAT granted them a remission or “fiscal stimulus” for the years 2020 to 2024, but by 2025 they will no longer be able to credit VAT on compensation payments.
The problem is that by 2026 an increase in damage insurance premiums is expected because insurers will have to compensate for the decrease in their income.
Mexico, host of APEC 2028
The Sweet Orange Award of the week goes to the Secretary of Economy Marcelo Ebrard who took advantage of his participation in the APEC Summit in South Korea, and in addition to greeting leaders who did attend, he did not return empty-handed because he presented the proposal for Mexico to host APEC 2028.
It is regrettable that President Sheinbaum did not attend this Summit of the Asia-Pacific Cooperation Forum, which was the forum for Donald Trump’s meeting with Chinese Premier Xi Jinping that resulted in a truce in the tariff war.
It would have been an excellent opportunity for Sheinbaum to have a first meeting with Trump and on neutral ground.
Ebrard must have addressed the thorny Samsung case in South Korea. Although the company has denied its departure from Mexico, there is great annoyance against the SAT and for what it considers a double VAT charge for companies that participate in the INMEX scheme and refuse to evade taxes.
CRT: with the left foot
The Sour Limon Award goes to the Plenary of the new Telecommunications Regulatory Commission headed by Norma Solano, which began its functions with a controversial study in which it maintains that the cost of the radio spectrum in Mexico is 7% below the international average.
According to the CRT, it used the same sources as the former IFT study that in 2023 concluded that in some frequency bands of mobile telecommunications services, spectrum costs were 88% and 96% above the international average, which represented an entry barrier for new operators.
Now companies in the sector do have other data, because if they complain about something, as is the case with AT&T and Telefónica, which even returned spectrum, it is its high cost.
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