financial management

No Image

Pablo Soria de Lachica Comments on Recent Moves to Regulate Mexico’s FinTech Sector

On Dec. 5, 2017 Mexico’s Senate approved a bill that would regulate its rapidly expanding financial technology (fintech) sector, including crowdfunding and cryptocurrency firms. “The new laws, which seek to promote stability and defend against money laundering, are also expected to pass through a final lower house vote,” explains financial analyst Pablo Soria de Lachica. If approved, Mexico will join a small, but growing, list of countries, including the United States and Britain, that have sought to regulate fintech businesses. The goal of the change, said Pablo Soria de Lachica, is to provide legal clarity for companies, including those working with bitcoin, that are creating new variations of traditional products and services. As currently written, the measure would specify that cryptocurrencies are not legal tender in Mexico, and all firms that deal with them would be officially regulated by the country’s central bank. If passed, the bill has the potential to reduce operational risk, enhance transparency and improve…