MERIDA, Mexico, March 16 (Reuters) – The Mexican arm of Spain’s Banco Santander (SAN.MC) plans to launch digital lender Openbank by the top of March 2024 to supply checking accounts, bank cards and different companies over time, the pinnacle of the native unit stated on Thursday.
“We have to ‘tropicalize’ it and make it match for the Mexican market and regulation,” Santander’s Mexico nation head Felipe Garcia advised Reuters in an interview, including that as a result of the digital financial institution already operates in Argentina and a few European international locations the operation won’t be ranging from scratch.
Mexico was a lovely marketplace for the digital lender as a result of it had a comparatively low degree of banking penetration in comparison with different Latin American international locations and a really younger inhabitants, he stated, with the launch poised to assist combine extra folks into the monetary system.
Garcia didn’t say how a lot Spain’s greatest financial institution would put money into the transfer.
Santander final month valued its Mexican enterprise at round 8.1 billion euros with the launch of a voluntary tender provide to amass shares it doesn’t personal, a step in the direction of its de-listing.
The unit is Mexico’s third-biggest financial institution by the scale of its credit score portfolio and managed some 810 billion pesos ($43.23 billion) on the finish of final 12 months, in response to knowledge from the nationwide banking regulator.
Its shares closed Thursday at 24.20 pesos, a slight acquire of 0.12% from the day earlier than.
($1 = 18.7385 Mexican pesos)
Reporting by Valentine Hilaire and Noe Torres; Enhancing by Sarah Morland and Jamie Freed
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