Mexico mulls mobile payments system with Amazon
Mexico’s central bank is in discussions with Amazon to bring in a new government-backed mobile payment system offering online purchases via QR codes.
CoDi comes a-calling
According to Reuters, the bank’s head of payments says this would be the first time Amazon offers such scanning technology in Mexico and could eventually open a new customer base in a nation where more than half of the population has no bank account.
The payment system, known as CoDi, is being built by the central bank Banco de México (aka Banxico).
CoDi will let customers make online and mobile payments using QR codes. It aims to bring more people into the formal financial sector. A pilot roll-out is expected this month.
Amazon and Argentine rival MercadoLibre have approached the bank about adopting the system, Jaime Cortina, Banxico’s director of operations and payments, tells Reuters.
“They have also said that they could implement it relatively quickly,” Cortina explains, adding that CoDi was specifically designed so that it can facilitate payments online as well as in stores.
Amazon declines to comment. MercadoLibre confirmed that its payments arm MercadoPago was in contact with the central bank about digital payment solutions but declined to comment further.
Amazon launched its first debit card last year, targeting consumers without credit cards.
This latest move is part of Mexico’s desire to boost its fintech sector.
As FinTech Futures reported in September 2018, Mexico’s Fintech Law, which had been touted for over a year, came into effect.
This law is the nation’s most coordinated effort to tackle regulating fintech firms. There was nearly two years of debate around it, and the law seeks to regulate four main areas: crowdfunding, cryptocurrency, APIs and data sharing, and sandbox ecosystems.
