LatinNews Daily - 30 June 2025

*International credit ratings agency Fitch has downgraded three Mexican financial institutions citing money laundering concerns. The three companies in question, commercial banks, CIBanco and Intercam, and brokerage company Vector Casa de Bolsa, were the subject of sanctions announced by the US on 25 June due to “money laundering concern in connection with illicit opioid trafficking”. Fitch downgraded the national long-term and short-term counterparty risk ratings of the three institutions to ‘B(mex)’, down from ‘AA-(mex)’ for Intercam and Vector and from ‘A(mex)’ for CIBanco for the long-term ratings, and from ‘F1+(mex)’ for all three for the short-term ratings. All ratings were placed on negative observation. Fitch said the downgrade “reflects the imminent negative impact on the business and financial profiles of the entities in light of the U.S. Treasury Department’s indication of potential money laundering prevention weaknesses related to illicit opioid trafficking”. Fitch said the companies had a “significantly more vulnerable credit profile” in the face of these concerns, “given the potential impact on the ability of these institutions to meet their financial obligations”. Fitch also noted that Mexico’s finance regulator, Comisión Nacional Bancaria y de Valores (CNBV), had announced temporary management intervention of the institutions and replaced their administrative bodies and legal representatives due to the sanctions. It stated that the negative observation reflected the uncertainty regarding the scale of a larger negative impact on the credit profiles of the companies, the possibility of further regulatory actions, and the risk arising from the emergence of new events that could affect the sustainability of the businesses. Fitch said it expects to resolve the negative observation “as soon as there is greater clarity on the regulatory actions and their implications for the credit profile and the ability to meet the obligations of the financial institutions”.

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