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Mexican Antitrust Regulator Targets 21 Banks Over Alleged Credit Card Fee Collusion

By  |  July 26, 2025

Mexico’s antitrust authority, COFECE, has identified 21 banks and financial institutions operating within the country as potentially engaging in anti-competitive practices related to deferred credit card payments, according to a confidential government document reviewed by Reuters.

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    The lengthy 649-page report, compiled by the Federal Economic Competition Commission (COFECE), names several prominent institutions, including the Mexican branches of HSBC, Santander, and Scotiabank. Per Reuters, the findings suggest there is sufficient preliminary evidence to indicate that these entities may have coordinated on setting merchant surcharges associated with deferred payment credit card purchases—transactions that allow consumers to spread the cost of a purchase over several months.

    The investigation, launched in 2022, initially aimed to uncover suspected monopolistic behavior in the deferred payments market. According to Reuters, COFECE now alleges that the financial institutions met regularly to establish and enforce common surcharge structures, which were later embedded into regulatory frameworks. The document also indicates that these practices may have unfairly excluded certain merchants from participating in the market.

    Among the other financial players cited in the report are Banco Azteca, Banco Inbursa, Banca Mifel, Banco Regional, and Red Amigo DAL. Others include Tarjetas del Futuro, Servicios Financieros Soriana, Klar Technologies, and Crediclub, among many others.

    The implicated institutions are currently being formally notified of the preliminary findings. As outlined in the document, this notification triggers the beginning of a quasi-judicial phase where the accused parties will be given the opportunity to present counterarguments and evidence before COFECE’s full panel renders a final decision.

    While the specific consequences remain uncertain, under Mexican law COFECE can impose fines of up to 10% of a company’s annual revenues generated within the country. However, the agency’s powers are limited to issuing administrative sanctions. It cannot prosecute criminal cases but may refer matters to prosecutors or initiate class-action lawsuits when warranted.

    Neither COFECE nor the listed financial institutions responded to requests for comment, Reuters reported.

    COFECE has a track record of taking on large-scale collusion cases. In 2021, it fined five pharmaceutical wholesalers and 21 individuals nearly 903 million pesos for manipulating drug prices and restricting supply for over a decade. The following year, it levied more than 2.4 billion pesos in penalties against more than 50 liquefied petroleum gas distributors across multiple states, citing coordinated price-fixing and market division.

    Source: Reuters