Fintech & payments regulation in Mexico (2026)
Fintech and digital payments in Mexico: licensing regime.
Mexico has a clear, dedicated fintech licensing regime. The 2018 Fintech Law created two authorized institution types, Electronic Payment Funds Institutions (IFPE / e-money) and crowdfunding institutions, both requiring CNBV authorization with the favorable opinion of Banxico and the Finance Ministry (SHCP). Instant-payment infrastructure (SPEI, CoDi, DiMo) is operated by Banxico, while open finance and BNPL remain only partially regulated, with open-banking secondary rules years overdue.
Legal framework
Ley para Regular las Instituciones de Tecnología Financiera ('Ley Fintech', published 9 March 2018), implemented via secondary regulations issued by the CNBV, Banco de México (Banxico) and SHCP. The CNBV authorizes Financial Technology Institutions (ITF), with Banxico operating the payment rails.
Key points: digital payments & fintech in Mexico
Dedicated Fintech Law & regulator
The Ley Fintech (2018) is the primary law; the CNBV is the licensing authority for Financial Technology Institutions (ITF), acting with the favorable opinion of Banxico and SHCP. Mexico was among the first countries with a bespoke fintech statute.
E-money licensing (IFPE)
Electronic Payment Funds Institutions (Instituciones de Fondos de Pago Electrónico) are the e-money/payments license: they may issue, redeem and transfer electronic funds and run digital wallets, subject to CNBV authorization, capital requirements and AML/CFT obligations. They cannot pay interest on balances.
Instant-payment rails (SPEI, CoDi, DiMo)
Banxico operates SPEI, a 24/7 real-time interbank transfer system (settlement in seconds). CoDi (QR/NFC, launched 2019) and DiMo (phone-number transfers, launched 2023) run on top of SPEI to drive low-cost account-to-account payments, though CoDi adoption remains modest.
Open finance mandate (partial / overdue)
Article 76 of the Fintech Law mandates broad open data sharing across all supervised financial entities (wider than EU PSD2). Only the 'open data' tier (e.g., ATM/branch data, rules published June 2020) is implemented; secondary API standards for transactional data remain unissued years past the statutory deadline, prompting an amparo lawsuit against CNBV/Banxico/SHCP in early 2026.
BNPL largely unregulated
Buy-now-pay-later is growing rapidly but lacks a dedicated regime; providers operate without a specific BNPL license, and the regulatory posture has been 'observe and educate.' Tighter rules (credit-bureau reporting, fee transparency, limits) are anticipated but not yet in force.
Crowdfunding & supervision
The law also licenses crowdfunding (collective financing) institutions and provides a regulatory sandbox ('novel models'). Authorized ITFs are supervised by the CNBV; conduct/consumer issues fall to CONDUSEF.
Timeline of decisions
- Guidance · officialCNBV and Banxico Publish Draft Payment-Network Regulation, Interchange Fee Caps and Mandatory Interoperability
Banco de México and the CNBV released an ante-project of 'General Provisions applicable to payment-means networks' (Redes de Medios de Disposición) for public consultation, proposing interchange-fee caps of 0.3% on debit and 0.6% on credit transactions, mandatory network interoperability, and expanded supervisory and sanction powers. The proposal aims to lower merchant costs and reduce concentration in card-acceptance infrastructure.
COFEMERSIMIR — Comisión Federal de Mejora Regulatoria
- Decision · officialBanxico Launches DiMo (Dinero Móvil), Phone-Number-Based SPEI Transfers
Banco de México introduced DiMo, enabling individuals and businesses to initiate instant SPEI transfers using only the recipient's mobile phone number rather than a 18-digit CLABE, dramatically reducing friction for underserved users. DiMo reached 12.2 million registered users by end-2024, growing 117% in that year alone.
World Bank — Project FASTT Fast Payments
- Decision · officialCNBV Publishes Open-Banking API Regulations Under the Fintech Law
The CNBV issued 'General Provisions relating to standardized application programming interfaces' in the Diario Oficial, requiring all supervised financial entities, IFPEs, IFCs, and money transmitters to expose open data (products, branches, ATMs), aggregate data, and, with user consent, transactional data through standardized APIs. The rules established compliance deadlines running through June 2021 and created the legal backbone for Mexico's open-finance ecosystem.
Diario Oficial de la Federación
- Decision · officialCoDi (Cobro Digital) Launched Nationally, QR/NFC Payments on SPEI
Banco de México rolled out CoDi to more than 20 financial institutions, enabling merchants and individuals to send and receive instant payments up to MXN 8,000 by scanning QR codes or tapping NFC-enabled devices, all settled through SPEI with zero fees. CoDi became Mexico's first mass-market mobile payment instrument and a template for the later DiMo system.
Banco de México
- Law · officialLey Fintech enacted, dedicated regulatory pathway for technology-based financial startups
Mexico became one of the first countries in Latin America to enact a comprehensive Fintech Law (Ley para Regular las Instituciones de Tecnología Financiera), creating a licensing and regulatory-sandbox framework for crowdfunding platforms and electronic-money institutions under CNBV oversight. The law provided start-ups in financial services a defined, legal route to incorporation and operation that had not previously existed.
Diario Oficial de la Federación
- Law · officialLey Fintech (LRITF) Enacted, First Sector-Specific Cybersecurity Obligations for Digital Finance
The Law to Regulate Financial Technology Institutions was published in the DOF, creating a regulatory framework for fintechs under joint CNBV/Banxico supervision and expressly requiring ITF operators to maintain security standards for electronic-money operations and virtual-asset custody. It was the first Mexican statute to impose technology-specific cybersecurity duties on a non-bank financial sector.
Cámara de Diputados — Diario Oficial
- Decision · officialSPEI Extended to 24/7 Continuous Operation
Banco de México upgraded SPEI from business-hours settlement to round-the-clock, 365-day operation, making instant interbank transfers available at all times. This upgrade was the technical prerequisite that later enabled CoDi (2019) and DiMo (2023) to function as always-on retail payment rails.
World Bank — SPEI Case Study
- Decision · officialBanxico Launches SPEI, Mexico's Real-Time Interbank Electronic Payment System
Banco de México launched SPEI (Sistema de Pagos Electrónicos Interbancarios), a real-time gross-settlement system that became the foundational infrastructure for all digital payments in Mexico, gradually replacing the earlier SPEUA system by August 2005. By 2024, SPEI processed 5.34 billion transactions totaling 219 trillion pesos, equivalent to 6.5× Mexico's GDP, making it one of the most-used RTGS systems globally.
Banco de México
Sources
- diputados.gob.mx/LeyesBiblio/pdf/LRITF.pdf
- banxico.org.mx/regulations-and-supervision/d/%7BBCED7618-FED0-6513-EB07-28D9B60CE0FC
- fastpayments.worldbank.org/node/467
- hklaw.com/en/insights/publications/2020/07/open-banking-has-arrived-in-mexico
- fintechfutures.com/regulatory-actions/mexico-s-cnbv-reportedly-facing-legal-action-over-
- practiceguides.chambers.com/practice-guides/fintech-2025/mexico/trends-and-developments
- practiceguides.chambers.com/practice-guides/fintech-2025/mexico
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Next topicOrientation, not legal advice: verify against the primary sources linked above. Last verified 23 May 2026. Methodology & how to cite · State of Technology Regulation 2026