Background on Key Figures and Relevance
Ángel Melesio, a former director of Mexico’s central bank (Banxico) and the first engineer of the Sistema de Pagos Electrónicos Interbancarios (SPEI), has emphasized the need for more attractive incentives and greater flexibility to achieve wider adoption of digital payment solutions like Cobro Digital (CoDi) and Dimo (Dinero Móvil).
Íñigo Rumayor, the CEO of Monato, a firm that organized an event where Melesio spoke, highlighted the current challenges faced by digital payment transformation. He pointed out that most existing players are banks, which already have profitable adquirence businesses and thus lack motivation to push new payment schemes.
Current State of Digital Payments in Mexico
The digitalization of payments through SPEI, CoDi, and Dimo requires more incentives and ease to gain broader acceptance. This comes as SPEI advances towards a new version, and the federal government seeks to consolidate the use of these methods.
Presidenta has stressed that one of the federal government’s objectives is to expand digital payment usage and leverage financial infrastructure more efficiently. However, she mentioned that there are many fees associated with digital payments, and existing solutions like CoDi aren’t widely adopted due to the absence of commissions.
SPEI 2.0 Transformation Challenges
Beyond the challenges of digital payment transformation, SPEI is preparing for a significant overhaul with its new infrastructure, known as SPEI 2.0.
The Banco de México plans to maintain current characteristics while adding scalable modules or services on demand, standardizing processes, and improving transaction traceability.
Melesio explained that one of the biggest challenges will be building a new system alongside the existing one, comparing it to flying an airplane at 30,000 feet while simultaneously constructing a new one mid-flight. The transition will be complex as not all participants have equal resources or specialized personnel.
Technological Foundations for Future Implementations
The project aims to establish the technological foundations for a central bank’s digital currency and potentially enable multicurrency transaction processing.
Rumayor expressed optimism about the ongoing process, emphasizing that collaboration is key to digital payment success. He stressed that the true challenge lies in overcoming cash and informality, not banks or fintech companies.
Digital Payment Solutions: CoDi and Dimo
SPEI enables immediate transfers between accounts, leading to the creation of CoDi in 2019 for QR and NFC payments and Dimo in 2023 for cell phone number-based transfers.
Key Questions and Answers
- What are the main challenges for digital payment transformation? The primary challenges include insufficient incentives for banks to promote new payment schemes and the complexity of transitioning to SPEI 2.0 while maintaining the existing system.
- Why are incentives crucial for digital payment adoption? Incentives encourage both participants and users to adopt new digital payment solutions, driving wider acceptance.
- What is SPEI 2.0 and why is it important? SPEI 2.0 represents a significant overhaul of the existing infrastructure, incorporating scalable modules, standardized processes, and improved transaction traceability. It also lays the groundwork for potential central bank digital currency implementation.
- What are CoDi and Dimo, and how do they contribute to digital payments? CoDi (2019) facilitates QR and NFC-based payments, while Dimo (2023) enables cell phone number-based transfers, both contributing to the digitalization of Mexican payments.
