The bill says it aims to set out clear rules and reduce costs to users. That should drive competition in a sector that includes crowd-funders and payment firms, it says.
The bill also proposes measures to regulate companies operating with virtual currencies like bitcoin, although it does not provide much detail. The central bank would be tasked with refereeing such operations, the document says.
The bill will be examined first by an independent commission, and then go to the Senate for a vote. If it is approved, the finer details would be hashed out in so-called secondary laws.
“The regulation is good news for all companies in this sector because … growth will be greater with clear rules,” said Luis Ruben Chavez, the founder of Mexican crowdfunding firm Yotepresto.
Another industry source, who declined to be named as he was consulted in the drafting of the bill, said Mexico was the fastest growing market for fintechs in Latin America.
“We went from less than 50 (companies) in 2015 to 158 in 2016, and we already have over 240 this year,” he said.