Santander Mexico, a subsidiary of global banking giant Santander, is currently preparing to launch its digital service.

Matias Nunez, head of digital technology and innovation at Santander Mexico, said this week that the financial institution’s new service will be launched before the end of the current year and will be called Openbank.

According to preliminary information, the lender’s virtual platform already has a license granting the right to operate in Mexico. Currently, the financial institution’s digital service is in the final stages of preparation for launch.

In Mexico, nowadays traditional organizations of the banking system are striving to catch up with the growth rates of virtual lenders. Santander’s competitor in this country, which is Banorte, intends to launch its digital service called Banco Bineo next week. Also, Brazilian fintech bank Nubank had a customer base of more than 4 million people in Mexico as of September.

Santander Mexico is currently focused on implementing intensive digitalization efforts. The financial institution has also introduced several services focused on virtual technologies. For example, a lender has launched a customer service bot on its social media platform using the ChatGPT artificial intelligence app.

In December, the volume of money transfers through Santander’s digital channel showed an increase of more than 40% compared to the result for the same period last year. In the last month of last year, 40 million transactions were carried out in this format.

Santander Mexico has also added DiMo, an electronic transfer platform from the central bank of Mexico, to its app. More than 700,000 clients of the financial institution are already using this service.

In Mexico, buyers prefer solutions for making contactless payment transactions. Contactless credit and debit cards are in particular demand. Against the background of these consumer preferences, a decrease in the use of cash is recorded.

The active switch to cards is a kind of signal that the scale of virtual payments will grow in Mexico. The implementation of this scenario, the probability of which is the maximum, will also lead to an increase in the scale of purchases on digital platforms.

In December, ZilBank’s B2B banking platform launched a new feature that provides Mexican businesses, entrepreneurs, and freelancers with access to simplified payment solutions for paying American vendors, affiliates, employees, and others.

The Software as a Service (SaaS) platform allows users in Mexico to open virtual payment accounts in the United States in a digital format using passports, several other documents necessary in this case, and a statement of purpose.

In September, Nubank announced the expansion of its presence in the Mexican financial market. The lender offers personal loans to local customers. Ivan Canales, CEO of Nu Mexico, said that this proposal is part of a goal to expand access to loans and financial products. He also stated that about 20% of the adult population of Mexico connected to smartphones have already applied to interact with the bank.

As we have reported earlier, Santander Launches Overdraft-Free Checking Accounts.