Companies Focus on Reaching Financial Inclusion

Gustavo Rojo, CEO of Vexi and an MBN Startup Contributor, shared how financial inclusion can be empowering as financial services can help people improve the odds of having a better life. Financial services allow individuals to manage one of their most important assets: money. Also, financial services increase a person’s capacity to acquire more products and services that improve development and well-being. For some, these services can provide people with the means and services to offset the gap between social classes, explains Romo. Vexi has observed that by providing capital to grow a micro-business or to pay tuition can change lives, wrote Romo. He also highlights that financial education is crucial. “In three years, we have confirmed it is crucial for first-time credit card customers to gain confidence in the new services they are starting to use, and they are eager to learn how to make the best use of the services available to them.”

Interested in more? Here are the week’s major headlines in finance!

• Preliminary data from Mexico’s Ministry of Economy shows that foreign direct investment (FDI) has grown 14.8 percent during 1Q2021 compared to the same period last year. This represents the highest FDI recorded amount in the first quarter in the country’s registered history, which began in 1999. Even though several leading economic sectors are facing challenges, the data underscores that Mexico remains an attractive hub for foreign investment. Mexico attracted US$11.86 billion in total, a significant increase compared to 1Q2020’s haul of US$10.33 billion. Reinvested profit from foreign companies operating in Mexico represents 59.2 percent. The new investment makes up 18.6 percent and intercompany payables going from parents to subsidiaries amount to 22.2 percent.

• WeWork reported a US$2.1 billion loss in 1Q2021 due to the work from home policies, which led the company to see a 30 percent plunge in customers. Before the report came out, the company had announced it was going public via a merger with BowX Acquisition Corp. WeWork reported a net loss of US$2.06 billion on revenue of US$598 million. In its report, the company announced that “WeWork continued to see encouraging signs of recovery with sales activity, a critical indicator of future revenue, ramping over the first quarter, as the company achieved gross desk sales of 24,000 in January, 25,000 in February and 38,000 in March.” The company reports it is raising US$1.3 billion in 2021 from the flotation to capitalize on the partial return to office life and has projected that occupancy at its restructured, more profitable portfolio of sites will hit 90 percent by 2022. 

• BBVA released its “Mexico Economic Outlook 2021-2022,” which is based on its 2021 GDP growth forecast, the outlook for formal job creation, the temporary rise in inflation and the 2022 General Economic Policy Preliminary Guidelines that were released this year. The report mentions that this growth set off a strong start for the years’ economy and BBVA anticipates “a 4.2 percent annual growth for private consumption (reaching 93 percent of its pre-COVID-19 level by the end of the year), while we expect private investment to increase 3.5 percent year-over-year (YoY), reaching 83 percent of its pre-COVID-19 level by year-end.

• Mexico and France committed to supporting green finance during the third edition of the High-Level Economic Dialogue event. The two countries, represented by Mexico’s Ministry of Finance and France’s General Directorate of the Treasury, signed a Memorandum of Understanding to support access to technical cooperation programs financed by France. Based on the framework created in the dialogue between both countries, Mexico’s Ministry of Economy will draw a roadmap to continue promoting economic cooperation while promoting an even stronger economic relationship. In the press release, the Mexican government “reiterated its commitment to the fight against climate change” and called it a priority for this government alongside the promotion of sustainability in public finances.