Mexico’s lower house of Congress recently approved a bill that’s set to regulate the financial technology (fintech) sector in the country. The bill addresses both crowdfunding and cryptocurrency regulations, and puts Mexico among a small group of countries regulating the cryptocurrency space.
According to Reuters, the bill seeks to “promote financial stability and prevent money laundering,” and has been approved by Mexico’s Senate back in December. Now, it only needs to be signed by the country’s President Enrique Pena Nieto, to become law.
Reportedly, the bill was crafted in general terms, and will see regulators draft “secondary laws” that will help determine essential details for companies dealing with cryptocurrencies. The law will give fintech companies greater regulatory certainty surrounding issues such as cryptocurrency-related rules, payment methods, and crowdfunding.
The law will also permit “sharing of user information by financial institutions through public application programming interfaces (APIs). Francisco Mere, president of the association Fintech Mexico, stated:
“Open banking recognizes that the information in the hands of the financial institutions is the property of the user, not the institution’s, and that it can be brought to other financial intermediaries.”
Financial institutions will, under the law, be able to use client information from large banks through APIs, as long as the users agree. Per legal news service JURIST, it will also mean that the country’s central bank, Bank of Mexico, will be allowed to decide which cryptocurrencies the country’s exchanges list. The exchanges will have one year to comply.
Commenting on the bill, Mere stated that it will “allow better services, better costs and more inclusion.” Some of the law’s backers note that financial services will improve in the country, as new players will be able to compete with traditional banks.
Reuters further notes that the law was crafted in general terms. The country’s banking and securities regulator, the National Banking and Securities Commission (CNBV), along with the central bank and the finance ministry, will work out some of its most important details. These key details are expected “in the coming months.”
Last year, CCN reported that Mexico was working on legislature to regulate companies that interact with bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, along with the wider fintech sector. At the time, Mexico’s lawmakers recognized authorities needed to create a regulatory framework that could “mitigate risks and allow for growth in a competitive environment.”
Various countries throughout the world, such as the Philippines, are already working on cryptocurrency and initial coin offering (ICO) regulations. Others, including the US, have revealed that cryptocurrency regulations won’t come any time soon.
