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By Diego Oré
MEXICO CITY, Oct 15 (Reuters) - Mexico's Senate aims to pass
a first raft of bills to regulate fees for financial services by
the end of October, said Ricardo Monreal, Senate leader of the
ruling National Regeneration Movement (MORENA) party.
Last November, shortly before President Andres Manuel Lopez
Obrador took office, MORENA lawmakers presented a bill to limit
bank fees, sparking an investor backlash that pummeled the peso
, Mexico's S&P/BMV IPC stock index and banking shares.
The bill, which is sponsored by Monreal, has since then been
wrapped up in negotiations with Mexico's central bank, the
finance ministry and Mexico's banking association (ABM).
In "two weeks (we'll) pass an initial package of
initiatives," Monreal said in an interview with Reuters on
Monday. "We're going step by step," he added, saying the first
group of bills would change 32 articles and three laws.
If approved by the Senate, the package would pass to the
lower house. MORENA and its allies hold big majorities in both.
The planned changes mostly relate to transparency and
including more Mexicans in the banking system, which is in
banks' interest, Monreal said.
"There is resistance," he added. "But I think (banks) have
understood ... they must reduce these sorts of charges," a
reference to fees in general.
His plan includes a proposal that banks exempt accounts
smaller than 18,700 pesos ($970) from certain fees, as well as
free up such accounts from other charges.
A study by financial products watchdog Condusef said 30% of
Mexican banks' revenue on average comes from their fees, which
Monreal called "among the highest in the world."
The ABM represents banks such as BBVA, Santander
, the Mexican unit of Citigroup, Grupo Financiero
Banorte, and billionaire Carlos Slim's Grupo
Financiero Inbursa.
Separately, Monreal, a 59-year-old veteran of Mexican
politics, said Congress will by Oct. 20 approve a proposal to
apply a value-added tax on digital businesses. The VAT rate at
Mexico currently stands at 16%.
Under the initiative, companies such as Amazon,
Uber or Google, will be responsible for
paying the tax, the senator said.
"They have to pay without hitting the consumer. From what
they make now," he said. "It would be very easy to charge the
consumer for it. They have to absorb it as part of their costs."
The initiative also obliges platforms such as Netflix
to produce at least 30% worth of their Mexico
programming within the country, said Monreal.
(Reporting by Diego Ore; Writing by Anthony Esposito. Editing
by Steve Orlofsky)
