Fintech has forced us to have a better customer experience: Citibanamex

“It is very important to take care of the level playing field for neobanks or new business models such as fintech that are entering the country because a failure in one of these, due to a different regulation, does not affect anything more than the client but rather the trust in the system. financial,” he adds.

For the manager, the problem with unequal regulation is that, making a simile with soccer, goals are worth the same and while the bench has been modernized “with a VAR”, the other players do not play with the same rules.

The banker highlights that Mexico has the potential to increase banking coverage because it is at low levels compared to other Latin American countries.

In 2023, the bank reported profits of 22,279 million pesos, according to figures from the National Banking and Securities Commission (CNBV).

What do you expect from the next presidential election?

Regarding the electoral process that is taking place in the country, Manuel Romo highlighted that the bank analyzes the proposals of each of the candidates and the candidate.

The bank, however, detects “points of attention” regarding fiscal deficit and the need for fiscal reform.

“(We must) maintain order in public finances, maintain independence in institutions like Banco de México. We believe that there are investment issues in terms of infrastructure that must be addressed,” he says.

How is the separation process between Citi México and Banamex going?

Manuel Romo says that they are advancing in the split of Banamex so that this happens in the second half of the year: 2,000 clients go to Citi México and 22 million stay in the retail part of Banamex.

“Banamex keeps all the natural persons, we are in technological tests, in the last authorizations that we are missing,” he points out.

The main challenge, according to Romo, in separating both businesses is to maintain stability in customer service.

“The last thing we want is to affect the customer experience due to instability in the systems,” he says. In addition, in 2024 an investment of 300 million dollars in technology is estimated.

The manager highlights that in the separation process they have had the support of regulators in both Mexico and the United States.

“We are very close to them in every step we take and there are very special, very specific moments, where authorization is required for the transaction. Frankly, a project of this magnitude would be very difficult to imagine if we had not had all the support and very dedicated work on the part of the regulators,” he points out.

Citibanamex data:

Year of creation: 1884 and in 2001 Citigroup purchases Banamex

Profits in 2023: 22,279 million pesos

Credit portfolio: 606,133 million pesos