MEXICO CITY, Jan 25 (Reuters) - HSBC's Mexican unit joined an alliance of five other banks to make their ATMs available to all their shared customers in Mexico for cash withdrawals and balance enquiries without paying a fee, the banks said on Wednesday.
More than 9,000 Multired-branded ATMs will allow some 13.2 million customers from the Mexican unit of HSBC, Canada's Scotiabank and local providers BanBajio , Inbursa, Banregio and Banca Mifel to access the shared network, the banks said in a joint statement.
HSBC's participation adds 5,600 Mexico ATMs to the network, the banks said, in addition to the 3,500 machines shared between the other five banks, which entered into a partnership in 2021.
"We are happy to share this alliance," said Pablo Elek, a consumer banking manager at HSBC Mexico, during a presentation for the new Multired network.
According to the Bank of Mexico, local cardholders make over 153 million interbank transactions at ATMs each year, totaling 463 billion pesos ($24.6 billion).
Banca Mifel, a private Mexican lender led by Daniel Becker has been bidding to buy Citigroup's Mexican arm, Banamex. If successful, this would give Mifel a close to 12% market share, according to the country's securities commission. ($1 = 18.8083 Mexican pesos) (Reporting by Sarah Morland; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)