Banorte Pulls Back on Its 100% Digital Banking Bet: Bineo Sold to Klar After Falling Short of Break-Even
The Bineo experiment—the digital bank Grupo Financiero Banorte launched with the ambition of going head-to-head with new tech-driven players—ended up being reshaped in less than a year of operations: the project didn’t reach the expected profitability within the planned timeframe, and its technology will be absorbed by Klar, a fintech aiming to step up to a broader banking offering in Mexico.
Bineo was conceived in 2019, when traditional banks were anticipating a more aggressive push from Big Tech and Mexico’s fintech ecosystem was starting to gain traction. At the time, Banorte designed a three-pronged strategy: speed up the digitization of the “parent” bank, build partnerships, and create an independent institution with no branches and running on cloud infrastructure. In parallel, its partnership with Rappi to issue the Rappicard pursued the same goal: attracting younger, more digital users in a banking market where the customer base tends to skew older over time.
However, the environment changed quickly. The pandemic accelerated the use of digital channels across the entire banking industry, and what used to be a differentiator—opening accounts from a phone, operating without branches, signing up for products online—became standard. Banorte itself made major strides in its app and online banking, steadily integrating more high-adoption services. In that context, a “separate” digital bank began competing for attention and budget with the group’s own digital transformation.
On top of that, Mexico’s market became more competitive and more sophisticated. Neobanks and fintechs entered and scaled with offerings centered on credit cards, payments, rewards, and especially high yields on deposit products. Sofipos—regulated entities that expanded significantly in recent years—offered double-digit rates during a period of elevated interest rates, raising the bar for value propositions. For a new bank, building scale and a profitable “basket” of products became harder and more expensive.
Bineo’s launch also ran into a timing challenge: although the project had been in the works for years, its license arrived toward the end of 2023 and its public launch was in January 2024. By then, digital-native competitors had already built brand recognition and user bases; many started with credit cards and later expanded into accounts and other services. Bineo took the opposite route, with a more limited initial offering, making it harder to quickly accelerate customer acquisition and transaction volume with sufficient margins.
Industry sources also point to the project’s governance as another factor: even though operational independence was the goal, decision-making and the pace of investment ultimately remained constrained by the group’s priorities. In an environment of rising technology costs and pressure to improve efficiency, the balance between “experimenting” and “scaling” is often fragile—especially when the business has to justify reaching break-even quickly to a corporate board.
The macro backdrop matters too. Mexico entered 2024 with a mixed outlook: moderate growth, public finances under pressure due to higher spending commitments, and a monetary-policy cycle that—while it began gradually shifting toward rate cuts—kept financial conditions tight for months. In banking, high rates can support net interest margins in certain portfolios, but they also raise funding costs and increase the cost of acquiring customers when users demand high yields and immediate benefits. For a new brand without scale, that can translate into a longer path to profitability.
Against that backdrop, Banorte chose to concentrate efforts on its main platform—with millions of customers and already-integrated products—and put Bineo up for sale. The deal was presented as a strategic move: fewer “runways” to operate (Banorte, Rappicard, and Bineo) and more focus on the bank’s digital channel with the most traction. For Banorte, Bineo provided lessons in digital customer service, cloud-based operations, and product design; for Klar, it represented an opportunity to acquire ready-built banking infrastructure with relatively low regulatory risk.
Klar’s purchase—its amount was not disclosed—reinforces a broader trend: selective consolidation in the digital financial ecosystem. Several fintechs have sought to expand licenses and capabilities to migrate from limited models—for example, taking deposits and extending credit under non-bank structures—toward setups that let them scale a wider range of products (cards, accounts, payroll loans, small-business financing). At the same time, regulators are applying increasing scrutiny to AML compliance, cybersecurity, and risk management, which raises compliance costs and favors players that can invest consistently over time.
Looking ahead, the Bineo case suggests that differentiation in Mexico is no longer achieved simply by “being digital,” but by offering a comprehensive proposition, competitive pricing, a consistent experience, and above all, sustainable unit economics. In a country with major gaps in financial inclusion—where cash still dominates many transactions and access to formal credit remains limited—the growth potential is real, but the path requires scale, trust, and products that solve concrete needs (liquidity, savings with reasonable yield, simple payments, responsible credit).
In perspective, Bineo’s sale looks less like a rejection of digitization and more like a strategy adjustment: Banorte accelerates mobile banking under its core brand, while Klar leverages a banking platform to deepen its offering. The episode underscores that in Mexico’s market, digital success depends as much on commercial execution, regulatory design, and the ability to sustain investment until the model reaches critical mass as it does on technology.
Final observations: Banorte’s exit from Bineo as a standalone project and its transfer to Klar reflect how quickly digital competition in Mexico has matured and how heavily profitability weighs in an environment of high interest rates and heightened compliance requirements. More than an isolated “failure,” the move points to a reshuffling: traditional banks focusing on strengthening their own channels, and fintechs consolidating through acquisitions to gain scale and licensing.
