35 million Mexican adults have no bank account but own a mobile phone. For Maria, a tamale vendor on the streets of Mexico City, receiving a wire transfer from her son in the United States no longer requires a two-hour trip to the nearest bank branch. She types her phone number, and the money arrives instantly in her digital wallet. Millions of Mexicans excluded from the traditional financial system are accessing financial services for the first time.
According to ENIF 2024, approximately 80% of adults hold at least one formal financial product, revealing the scale of financial inclusion accelerating outside traditional banks. Mexico is building a financial ecosystem that frees itself from inherited banking infrastructure to connect citizens directly to digital payment services via their smartphones.
Mobile Infrastructure Surpasses Banking Infrastructure
83.1% of individuals aged 6 and older use the internet; in urban areas, penetration reaches 86.9%, while in rural areas it stands at 68.5%. The mobile network far exceeds access to banking services. Rural areas have only 0.66 ATMs per 10,000 inhabitants, compared to 2.7 in urban areas, and 87% of rural municipalities lack an ATM.
More than 50% of mobile phone users already use digital wallets as a payment method. Digital wallets now represent approximately 28% of the value of national e-commerce. Mobile technology bypasses the geographic and economic obstacles of the traditional banking system.
For rural and underbanked populations, mobile payment eliminates physical barriers. No need to travel to the city to open an account or conduct a transaction. The mobile phone becomes a pocket bank branch, accessible 24/7 from any village connected to the mobile network.
Banco de México and Instant Payments
The Banco de México has deployed three complementary instant payment systems: SPEI (real-time interbank transfers), CoDi (QR code payments), and DiMo (telephone number transfers), creating a 24/7 accessible digital payment infrastructure. Mexico is becoming a global laboratory for financial inclusion without the mandatory passage through traditional banking.
The SPEI system processed 5.41 billion transactions in 2024, equivalent to six times the national GDP, with more than 73 million adult users. DiMo counted 9 million registered accounts in June 2024, compared to 21.8 million for CoDi after six years of operation. From July 2023 to June 2024, nearly 90% of transfers processed by SPEI involved low-value transactions between end users.
Access to instant payments is changing consumption habits. For purchases below 500 Mexican pesos ($28), 93% of consumers were still using cash in 2024, but this share is declining gradually. Digital payments are no longer reserved for large amounts but are becoming a daily mechanism for splitting a bill or receiving a salary.
Digital Remittances Change the Game
The world’s leading recipient of remittances, Mexico is converting these flows into a technological lever. The remittance market exceeds $66 billion annually. For the underbanked population, digital wallets allow people to receive money and conduct transactions without a credit history.
The scale and regularity of remittance flows make them a natural driver of payment modernization. Authorized fintechs are increasingly integrating cross-border channels directly into SPEI and DiMo rails. Integration eliminates traditional intermediaries and drastically reduces transfer delays and costs.
Actors convert to pesos and route funds via SPEI/DiMo for domestic disbursement. Stablecoins do not compete with SPEI or DiMo but constitute complementary infrastructure connecting Mexico to global liquidity networks. The hybrid architecture exploits the best of both worlds: the speed of cryptocurrencies for international transfers and institutional legitimacy for domestic disbursements.
Financial Inclusion Redefined by Gender
In 2024, 72.8% of women held a formal financial product, compared to 80.9% of men. For savings accounts, the gap persists: 58.6% of women versus 68% of men hold a formal account. A gap that the traditional banking model has never been able to close.
Mobile payments bypass certain structural obstacles: no need to visit a branch, simplified account opening procedures, reduced minimum amounts. The Banco de México has relaxed regulations to encourage the opening of Level 2 transactional accounts, with a monthly deposit ceiling of approximately $1,150 and a simplified registration process with minimal identity verification.
77.6% of the population used a financial channel in 2024—branches, ATMs, or bank agents—but only 10% of adults with a formal savings account opened it via the Internet or a mobile application. The use of banking applications to consult and manage accounts increased from 54.3% in 2021 to 69.1% in 2024.
The Mexican Model Against Regional Leaders
Latin America is becoming the global laboratory for instant payments driven by central banks. Instant payment systems now represent 45% of all digital payments in Latin America, compared to only 2% in 2017.
Brazil’s Pix has more than 175 million users, or 93% of the country’s adult population. In mature markets, adoption of fast payments is widespread: in Brazil and Costa Rica, more than 75% of adults use Pix and Sinpe respectively. The number of fast payments per capita in Latin American countries has exploded, rising from zero in 2019 to more than 3 per month in Peru, 12 per month in Costa Rica, and 24 per month in Brazil.
Mexico still lags behind these regional champions. CoDi, introduced by Mexico’s central bank as early as 2019, generated only $0.5 billion in cumulative transactions, far from the success of its Brazilian counterpart. But observers position Mexico as the next regional success story, with already-established infrastructure awaiting mass adoption.
The 2026 World Cup as a Catalyst
Mexico plans to use the FIFA 2026 World Cup to accelerate adoption of digital payments SPEI, CoDi, and DiMo. Technology is not the problem; the real challenge is mass adoption. Massive cash use not only limits traceability and efficiency but also represents a structural barrier preventing thousands of small businesses from growing, formalizing, and competing in an increasingly digital and globalized environment.
Millions of people in Mexico remain outside the formal financial system, not for lack of technological access, but for lack of information, trust, or support. Understanding how instant digital payments work, their benefits, and their ability to improve personal and business finances is crucial to closing this gap.
Financial education must evolve: no longer just basic concepts of savings or credit, but practical skills in using a payment application, protecting against digital fraud, and integrating electronic payments into a business.
Mexico is thus positioning itself as the next major testing ground for instant payments in Latin America. Its financial inclusion strategy without prior banking could inspire other emerging economies facing the same infrastructure challenges. Between technological adoption and cultural resistance, 2026 will determine whether the Mexican model can rival regional champions in digital payment.