Evo Payments makes its debut on Tuesday as the first CoDi acquirer in Mexico

Beyond the challenges posed by this crisis for the banking system, an issue on which Luis Niño de Rivera’s ABM cannot lower its guard is improving access to banking services.

While there are 4.8 million formal businesses in Mexico, banks only provide service to 20% of them, and let’s not even get started on the topic of informality.

An initiative that is extremely interesting, to make advances in regard to this challenge, is the CoDi payment system launched almost a year ago by Alejandro Díaz de León’s Banxico.

It hasn’t grown much, but an important step will be taken on September 1, when the Atlanta-based firm, Evo payments, formally starts operations as the first CoDi acquirer in our country.

The company, presided by James Kelly, was created in 2018 and has 600,000 affiliated businesses in 14 countries and 100 trillion annual transactions. Here, it is well known in the business of payments. Headed by León Vega, it has 60,000 clients and this year, in spite of the pandemic, it will conduct 400 million transactions.

It operates 350,000 credit card payment devices in companies such as Soriana, Costco, PH, Best Buy, McDonald’s and many small businesses.

At its launching, it will connect 130,000 devices, basically in SMEs such as restaurants or gas stations, to enable the client to pay via the CoDi . In a second stage, it will continue with an additional 220,000 devices, linked to large businesses, which must work on their own programs.

The debut of Evo Payments with CoDi comes at the best moment, when clients require a safe payment method via cellular phones due to Covid-19.

The transaction is completed in seconds, without the need for touching anything, and the merchant receives the payment instantly.

As it grew in strength here, Evo Payments acquired Banamex’s “acquiring busines” in 2015. It is a nodal ally for that institution, headed by Manuel Romo. It also partnered to support Francesc Noguera’s Banco de Sabadell,

CoDi is expected to expand quickly through QR codes, given the extensive use of cell phones.

We are obviously light years away from the extensive use of this technology in China, but Vega emphasizes that, in general, compared to the rest of the world, we are not that far behind. Perhaps the pandemic could be an accelerator.

For now, we have the debut of the first CoDi acquirer.

Chiapas extinguished payroll credits and a blow is dealt

Chiapas was in the news not long ago because it also banned the sale of processed drinks and food to children. Well, there now is a new provision in that state that puts many financial firms in a tight spot. On July 7, a decree that prohibits giving payroll credits to government workers was published in the official gazette. The matter, signed by governor Rutilio Escandón is justified because, supposedly, there are many complaints of onerous deductions from those accounts and it is pointed out that the State must ensure the stability of the employees. With that purpose, any agreement signed in the past is rendered invalid and said agreements must be terminated within 90 days. The sudden measure is another blow to legal security and goes to the detriment of many institutions.

Standards Law August 30 and regulations are a challenge

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Sosa beats Gómez Urrutia in Holcim

The headcount conducted at the Holcim plant in Hermosillo was a victory for Felipe Sosa, head of the Cement Industry Workers’ Union. He obtained 80 votes vs 18 for Napoleón Gómez Urrutia.