About a year ago, Adrián Sanchez Alarcón treated his daughter to a night at the theatre. They would see one of her favorite Mexican actors Diego Luna in a solo play and it would be the first time Sanchez purchased tickets online. “I don’t really use cash any more,” he says. “I can do it all with my card, especially in places that don’t accept cash.”
Sanchez’s Visa Saldazo card is his first experience with a formal financial product. In Mexico, only about 35% of the adult population has a savings product from a recognized financial institution. To remedy this, Visa partnered with OXXO, the largest chain of convenient stores in Mexico, and Banamex bank to offer Saldazo, a debit card also linked to a savings account, with no annual fee and no minimum balance requirements.
Sanchez automatically deposits his paycheck into his account and uses the card to purchase gas and food, pay bills, and transfer money to his wife when he’s on the road through the Banamex mobile payment app, Transfer. The mobile feature is a key component of the program with 81% of cardholders using it to make person-to-person transactions.
“Visa is targeting to strengthen the Mexican economy,” says Luz Adriana Ramirez, Visa’s country manager in Mexico. “We’re convinced that electronic payments and the reduction of cash will have a positive impact on the economy of Mexico and around the world.”
Visa’s strategy behind financial inclusion in countries such as Mexico is to make sign up as simple as possible. With just his ID, Sanchez opened an account at his local OXXO store in about 5 minutes. “I never signed up for a card before because I didn’t want to do all the paperwork that is required by the bank. This was fast and easy,” he adds.
Today, just two years after the pilot was launched, the Saldazo program has more than 1.7m accounts with more than 50% of cardholders being women. “One of the reasons the program has been so successful is our distribution network is the biggest, it’s easy to open, and customers can access special in-store promotions that no other card can give them,” says Asensio Carrion Martinez, financial services director at OXXO, which has more than 12,000 stores nationally.
“In Mexico, people are used to cash,” adds Ramirez, “but Saldazo is a convenient, safe, and easy way to deposit and withdraw money through a merchant that is open 24-7.” Having access to electronic payments also means not having to carry around cash or store it at home, which can lead to careless spending, loss or even theft. Now, thousands of people like Sanchez are using the card in commercial sectors where they previously didn’t have access (for example, ecommerce). The Saldazo savings account is where Sanchéz sees the greatest value.
“Before, if I had a spare 50 or 100 pesos, I would put it in my pocket and eventually spend it and wouldn’t know where or when. But now, I go to an OXXO store and I put the money into my account.”
So what is he saving for?
“We’re planning to renovate our house this year and my wife and I have an anniversary coming up so I’m saving up for something special.”
Theresa Gonzalez is senior director in US corporate marketing at Visa.
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