6. Averías del motor MAK 9M 25
6.1. El motor no arranca
In March 2005, BBVA Bancomer became the first bank in Mexico to launch an enhanced loyalty program based on Visa’s Smart Gen-
eration concepts that leverage smart card
technology to provide added value to cus- tomers. The loyalty program itself, called Vida Bancomer, and its supporting software were developed and implemented by Ban- comer. Smart card experts from Visa worked with Bancomer throughout the evaluation, planning and implementation phases of the project.
Because the program identifier and the rewards are stored on the smart card itself,
this technology allows for instant processing of rewards at the point of sale. Rewards can be allocated to certain establishments, products, customers or days, or a combination of factors. The system provides customers with instantly awarded reward points, coupons and discounts, without having to produce a separate loyalty card or paper coupons. Moreover, the system incorporates a customer-recognition system that can be used to build customer relationships, triggering surprise gifts or reserved promotions for valued customers or those using the card at a store for the first time. More than 2,000 merchants have already enrolled in the Vida Bancomer program and
bank officials are confident of reaching their objective of 10,000 by year-end.
Participating merchants can also work with Bancomer to design their own customised programs, sharing the costs of the rewards, while Bancomer provides and manages the instant rewards platform.
Bancomer’s special projects team worked with the platform vendor over a period of 18 months to develop the program. Cards issued following the March launch carry the Vida Bancomer logo, and the bank has been sending them to preferred customers. Eventually all of the bank’s Visa credit cards and some of its debit cards will be replaced with smart cards that include the loyalty program.
Mexico
active population has a debit card. Payroll programs have led to an increase in the number of cards, but this approach is not effective in industries with a large proportion of itinerant workers, such as agriculture and construction. Another problem is that people with payroll debit cards use them mainly at ATMs rather than at merchant terminals, which may undermine the objective of reducing the scale of the informal economy. With these challenges in mind, the ABM, the SHCP and local banks launched the Electronic
Payments System Support Program in 2003 to both extend the electronic payments infrastructure and to convince consumers to use it. The government’s objective includes the promotion of chip cards because in the future they could enable systems that would contribute to more efficient tax collection.
A key element of the effort to increase participation in the formal economy is the Boletazo campaign, which has a goal of tripling the use of debit cards over three years. This is a joint effort by the SHCP and ABM, with the support of Visa and MasterCard. Purchases are automatically registered in the Boletazo system. There are daily raffles for substantial prizes, including big- ticket items such as cars, as well as smaller items such as washing machines, blenders and concert tickets. There is an associated TV game show where
participants are selected from Boletazo vouchers that they send in. The ABM has supported this campaign with a series of TV advertisements.
Outlook
The Mexican economy is highly dependent on the performance of the US market. GDP growth was 4.4% in 2004 and is forecast to remain stable at an annual rate of around 3% for the foreseeable future. Personal disposable income, up by 4% in 2005 and rising by 3% annually in the next few years, will support reasonably strong private consumption growth. Changing spending patterns by an emerging middle class will
also contribute to an increasing demand for credit and financial services.
Inflation reached 4.7% in 2004, but the central bank will remain in control and guide price increases towards a standard target rate of 3%. Lending interest rates will increase, possibly to double-digit levels, but will remain at historically low levels. In a stable and friendly environment, credit will thrive and expand by some 5% per year, outpacing both GDP and domestic demand.
The new payments settlement systems now in place will enable new products, especially new types of online transfers that will take advantage of the removal of the minimum transaction value in the SPEI. The central bank is expecting that money transfers will occur in less than 20 minutes in the near future. Users will also have access to more information, such as verification of receipt of a transfer. First, however, the banks will have to upgrade their own systems to exploit modernised clearinghouse capabilities more fully. The new system will also provide the Bank of Mexico with more reliable information to support oversight of the payments systems.
Instalment purchases on credit cards are another relatively new innovation launched by the largest banks, and this is expected to make an important contribution to further expansion of credit for lower- income groups. The banks are also increasing their efforts to provide expanded credit to small business.
Over the next three years, the banks will make major efforts to extend the terminal base to reach small businesses. The ABM’s Terminalisation Fund has a target of 3.2 billion pesos (about US$280m) to pay for the installation of 250,000 POS chip-enabled terminals free of charge in small businesses. At the end of 2004, there were 65,000 chip-enabled terminals in place. The program will also put another 50,000 terminals in gas stations, movie theatres and fast-food establishments. Tenders for the terminals are expected to go out in mid-2005.
V
enezuela has a population of about 26 million. Current GDP reached US$109bn in 2004. Rising oil prices led to real economic growth of 17.3% during the year, but this was not sufficient to offset real declines over the previous two years. Per capita income was US$5,790 in PPP international dollars in 2004, 3.2% lower than in 2001.The financial sector
The financial sector in Venezuela would offer considerable scope for development in a stable economy. But a young population and low consumer spending power restrain market size. Captive liquidity has emerged as a result of exchange controls, but the increase in deposits is only barely positive after accounting for inflation, and has been directed mainly to instant-access accounts. The country’s wealthy also continue a tradition of investing their assets abroad. Consumer price inflation fell to 22% in 2004 from 31% the previous year.
Governance institutions
The Central Bank of Venezuela (BCV) is an independent institution responsible for managing the country’s monetary policy and for promoting price stability. It is also the country’s principal source of foreign
exchange, under an arrangement where the state petroleum company, Petróleos de Venezuela S.A. (PDVSA), is required to sell its foreign-currency receipts to the BCV. The Bank operates Venezuela’s National Payments System (SNP), including the cheque clearinghouse and a variety of other payments services.
The Superintendency of Banks and Other Financial Institutions (SUDEBAN) supervises all of the financial
institutions. Its main function is to monitor the behaviour of institutions within its preview and to notify the BCV of any instances of risks that could lead to insolvency.
Banks
Venezuela’s legislative framework distinguishes between several types of bank, including universal banks, commercial banks, investment banks, mortgage banks and representative offices of foreign banks, as well as several categories of non-banks such as leasing companies and savings and loans entities. The most recent SUDEBAN report for the third quarter of 2004 indicates that there are 43 institutions under its supervision, including 17 private universal banks and 15 commercial banks (one commercial bank is government-owned).
Four large universal banks hold about 61% of all public deposits. Banco Mercantil, Banco de Venezuela, Banco Provincial and Banesco each claim a market share of between 14.5% and 15.9%. Four medium- sized banks collectively claim another 15% of the market.
The number of foreign banks operating in Venezuela has declined in recent years, reversing the previous trend. Banco do Brasil, Bank of America, ING Bank and JP Morgan Chase all closed their Venezuelan operations in 2001 and 2002, citing cost-cutting as the reason. Four small foreign banks were sold to local investors in 2003, in response to growing political and economic risk. There are now eight banks with majority foreign ownership, holding approximately 35% of Venezuela’s bank assets. The penetration of the banking system was estimated at a relatively high 55.4% of the population in 2002 and the proportion of
Venezuela
Venezuela
the population with current accounts was 33.9%, above the Latin American average.
Clearinghouse systems
Venezuela’s payments systems are currently in the process of an extensive modernisation following consultations with the banking sector in 1998. The Central Bank operates two payments clearinghouses, one for cheques and one for large-value transactions. At the core of both systems are current accounts that each bank or financial institution holds at the BCV, known as a single account, which is used both for interbank settlements and for compliance with reserve requirements. Financial institutions also use their BCV accounts to carry out bilateral large-value settlements such as those for credit card transactions. Following the 1998 consultations, the BCV implemented a proprietary SWIFT closed users group, which institutions could use to initiate same-day interbank transactions. This system does not operate in real time, and the BCV manually processes each transfer. To compensate for this weakness, seven large banks have set up a private network to communicate payment information.