Regulators Open Consultation to Lower Card Payment Costs and Expand Adoption Among Businesses
The National Banking and Securities Commission (CNBV) and the Bank of Mexico (Banxico) have launched a public consultation for a regulatory project aimed at reducing the cost of credit and debit card transactions. The goal is to improve conditions for cardholders and encourage more businesses, especially small and medium-sized enterprises, to accept payment methods other than cash, according to a joint statement by both authorities.
This initiative comes at a time when card usage is growing at double-digit rates, but Mexico still remains a cash-heavy economy. For many microbusinesses, acceptance fees—which typically include the merchant discount rate (MDR), equipment rental or maintenance, and processing fees—continue to be an obstacle. Although Profeco has reiterated that passing these costs on to consumers via surcharges is forbidden, this practice still persists at some points of sale due to lack of enforcement and a lack of more competitive acceptance options.
While the consultation document does not specify concrete measures yet, the regulatory emphasis is on making the links in the card payment chain more efficient and reducing friction. In Mexico, the acquiring and processing ecosystem has historically been concentrated among a few players and switches, which has led to recommendations from competition authorities to increase interoperability and lower costs. Improvements in these areas could speed up adoption among small shops, professional services, and street vendors that currently rely heavily on cash.
The project is part of a broader agenda for financial inclusion and payment digitalization, where Banxico has pushed alternatives like SPEI and CoDi, and where aggregators and fintech companies have begun offering mobile terminals and payment links. Still, card payments remain dominant at physical points of sale, so a sustained reduction in costs could have a direct impact on formalization, security (less cash handling), and transaction traceability—with potential benefits for productivity and tax collection.
If significant changes are implemented, the impacts will be distributed unevenly among participants. For merchants, lower fees would improve margins or allow better pricing; for acquirers and processors, the move would bring competitive pressure and the need to scale up efficiencies; and for issuers and card networks, a cut in per-transaction income could lead to changes in the rewards or benefits model. Careful design will be key to balancing incentives, maintaining investment in cybersecurity and fraud prevention, and avoiding unintended consequences for innovation.
The consultation is open for banks, aggregators, international card networks, clearing houses, merchants, and consumer organizations to submit comments via an online platform set up by regulators. After reviewing the proposals, authorities will set the scope and timeline for implementation, which is likely to be gradual to help the market adjust operationally.
On the macroeconomic front, the move comes amid a period of gradual disinflation and a still-restrictive monetary policy. Making payments more efficient can help, on the margin, to contain transaction costs in the economy and support the dynamism of the domestic market, which has been a key driver of growth along with nearshoring-linked investment. However, the final impact will depend on the regulatory details and the industry’s ability to pass cost savings on to consumers and merchants without sacrificing service quality.
In summary, the CNBV and Banxico’s consultation opens a window to address inefficiencies in card payment acceptance and advance the reduction of cash use. If the new framework succeeds in balancing competition, security, and ecosystem sustainability, it could accelerate financial inclusion and widen the network of businesses that accept digital payments, bringing gradual and cumulative benefits to economic activity.
