The Regulation of Payment Cards: The Mexican Experience

Abstract

We present a review of the regulation of general acceptance payment cards in Mexico. We find that there are distortions that may justify public intervention. The market for payment cards is underdeveloped and the usage of debit cards at POS is restricted. Also, the structure of the interchange fee (IF) may hinder POS deployment and limit debit card usage. Banco de Mexico (BM) has regulatory jurisdiction over the payment systems. BM has introduced transparency in banks' charges and removed restrictions to participation. Regarding IF, the Association of Mexican Banks has reduced it without direct regulation.