Mexico - October 2026

On 6 October Mexico’s lower chamber of congress approved a digital economy bill submitted by President Claudia Sheinbaum as part of efforts to drive the adoption of digital payments in a bid to boost tax collection and labour formalisation.

The Ley de Economía Digital para Pagos Digitales y Electrónicos is a framework law that is designed to facilitate digital payments and authorises the finance ministry (SHCP) to mandate certain sectors, reportedly including toll road booths and petrol stations, to accept only digital payments rather than cash. Federal, state, and municipal authorities will also be required to accept digital payments. The bill simplifies and promotes the Codi digital payments platform, which was launched in 2019 but has not been widely adopted, with new central bank rules governing a standardised user experience for the platform among banks. In addition, it will allow informal business owners to open a new type of bank account that isn’t associated with a tax identity. However, the bill does not provide for any sanctions, which will be imposed via secondary regulation.

The bill is part of Sheinbaum’s efforts to increase adoption of digital payments at the expense of cash, which 85% of Mexicans said they mostly still used for purchases under M$500 (US$30) in 2024, according to the national survey of financial inclusion (Enif). Overall, Mexico ranks sixth in the world in terms of cash use, with 80% of daily transactions being made in cash, according to Mexico’s banking association (ABM) and the Forex Cash Index 2025 (this fell to 70% in the 2026 index). This is due in part to the persistence of the informal economy, in which workers and businesses prefer to use cash to avoid paying taxes and payment fees. As a result, making more payments digital would reduce tax evasion, and could also boost efforts to crack down on corruption and illicit electoral financing. Sheinbaum called the bill “very important” and promised that the digitalisation push would continue with the aim of “diminishing the role of cash.” She explicitly cited benefits such as “security, efficiency and even formalisation because it creates a payment history in a bank account.”

The bill has been generally well received by Mexico’s banking and business sectors. Vicente Gutiérrez Camposeco, president of the Cámara Nacional de Comercio, Servicios y Turismo de la Ciudad de México business association, said that digitalisation would be a net positive as long as it doesn’t result in a greater administrative burden for small business owners. In comments circulated by the local press, Camposeco highlighted that payment fees will influence adoption by these businesses, with any cost increases that eat into operating margins likely to dampen interest. Emilio Romano, head of ABM, also talked up its potential impact in an interview with The Economist, published on 19 August. “It’s the starting point to reduce informality, improve productivity, increase the tax take, increase financial inclusion and even reduce crime rates,” he said. Big companies such as drinks conglomerate Pepsi and Mexican brewery Grupo Modelo, which currently have to transport cash around rural areas in Mexico, are also reportedly in talks to expand the use of digital payments, while discount retail chain Tiendas 3B has already launched a pilot project of stores that accept only Codi and cash in order to save on card fees. 

This alignment suggests that the bill has a decent chance of boosting digital payment adoption if it is passed into law, not least because of the new rules mandating digital payments in certain sectors. But the extent to which the law will be able to herald a sea change in Mexico’s relationship with cash will depend on a number of factors. First, connectivity in rural areas may pose challenges. Although José Antonio Peña Merino, head of the government’s digital transformation agency, has claimed that 94% of adults have access to an internet-connected smartphone, concerns around network coverage leading to difficulties handling payments may encourage a continued preference for cash. Second, government communication around the tax implications for small businesses and informal workers will have a significant influence on adoption. There is already an important precedent for the scale of the challenge in this regard: Codi launched in 2019 but was only processing an average 12,000 transactions a day by 2025, according to think tank México Evalúa – a tiny number in a country of 130m people, with only 38% of adults having heard of the platform. In addition, a study from the central bank (Banxico) concluded that fear of tax authorities was one reason why Codi failed to make inroads in Mexico.

Looking ahead, this is the first significant step in Sheinbaum’s digitalisation push, rather than an end point. The bill still requires approval by the senate and could be amended before publication, while its effectiveness will depend on the secondary regulation, that still needs to be defined, as well as on the contents of the framework law. Enforcement will also be the responsibility of sectoral regulators, which may vary in terms of effectiveness. 

Driving down payment fees will also be important, with a national chamber of commerce, services, and tourism (Concanaco Servytur) survey finding that 46.5% of small businesses currently don’t accept card payments, citing fees that average more than 3.5%. Banking authorities previously floated plans to cap fees in October 2025, but the proposal was withdrawn due to opposition from banks. An updated proposal was put out for consultation from 27 August to 24 September, but Mexican banks reportedly bring in nearly a third of their operating revenue from fees, meaning resistance is likely. 

Mariana Campos, director of Mexico Evalúa, summarised the situation succinctly in a statement published on 26 August. “Adoption won’t happen solely due to public appeals, financial education campaigns or new apps. It’s necessary to change the calculation in terms of convenience,” she said. “If paying digitally costs less, saves time, avoids queues, reduces risks and facilitates access to other benefits, people will have a concrete reason to prefer it.”

For business, the bill should present significant opportunities for fintech companies and payment platforms, as it should help to bring some of the approximately 18m Mexican adults who currently don’t have a bank account into the financial system. Peña Merino’s forecast that at least 50% of transactions will be digital by 2027 seems ambitious, but he cited the example of Brazil, where the Pix payment platform was reportedly adopted by 80% of the population during its first year of operation. The major difference there is that it was mandatory for large financial institutions to adopt the platform, whereas Mexico’s approach appears to be a lighter touch at this stage.

South Korea’s president signs MoUs during Mexico visit

On 24 September President Claudia Sheinbaum met with South Korea’s President Lee Jae-myung in Mexico City, with the pair signing 17 memorandums of understanding. Speaking at a joint press conference, Lee highlighted that the agreements concluded the successful renegotiation of a trade promotion and investment protection deal, as part of a wider drive to deepen economic ties between the two nations. Lee called Mexico “a highly relevant strategic partner for Korea.” For her part, Sheinbaum underlined that South Korea is one of Mexico’s top five trading partners, with bilateral trade reaching US$29bn in 2025. The two leaders also officially adopted the Mexico-Korea Action Plan 2026-2030. The moves are part of Sheinbaum’s wider plan to diversify Mexico’s economic relationships at a time of significant tensions with the US.