Banking expands more in stores than with branches: CNBV

In Mexico, where going to the bank is still a daily practice for millions of people, the expansion of financial infrastructure has advanced more through businesses than through the financial institutions themselves, according to information from the National Banking and Securities Commission (CNBV).

In the last year, banking correspondents (stores, pharmacies or small businesses that carry out financial operations for a commission) grew at a faster rate than branches and ATMs, consolidating themselves as the main point of contact between the population and the financial system, particularly in municipalities with lower levels of development.

According to the report Annual overview of financial inclusion 2025the number of correspondents reached 57,624 at the end of 2024 (latest data available), an increase of 8 percent compared to 2023.

Contrary to the correspondents, the number of ATMs increased 3 percent, adding a total of 69,126, while the number of bank branches reached 18,295, an increase of one percent in the reference period, according to official information.

While the ATMs are concentrated in municipalities with less social backwardness, the correspondents achieved broader and more flexible coverage: four out of every five municipalities, where 99 percent of the adult population lives, have at least one, the CNBV noted in its report.

In contrast, the slight increase in the number of branches does not respond to a generalized expansion of commercial banking, but to the public policy of Banco del Bienestar, which since 2022 has promoted the opening of offices and which at the end of 2024 concentrated 3,144 branches, becoming the institution with the largest territorial presence.

Oxxo, at the head

Information from the CNBV indicates that the main business that acts as a banking correspondent in Mexico is the Oxxo store chain, which concentrates almost half of the correspondents and maintains commercial contracts with 21 institutions.

Oxxo has 24,568 points where financial operations can be carried out, that is, 43 percent of the total; It is followed by the Yastás Network, operated by Gentera, which added 6,374 correspondents or 11 percent of the total, and in third place is Regalii, with 5,430 points (9 percent).

The rest of the correspondents are distributed among Walmart (3,108), Farmacias Guadalajara (2,876), 7 Eleven stores (2,161), Financiera para el Bienestar (1,947), Farmacias del Ahorro (1,884), Coppel, (1,838), Extra stores (1,216), Soriana (839) and Super Kiosko (835), among others.

According to the CNBV, the operations carried out most frequently in correspondents were deposits, with 83 percent of the transactions, and BBVA is the institution with the greatest participation.

Then there are credit payments, with 9 percent of operations, and cash withdrawals, with 7 percent. Compartamos and BanCoppel registered the largest number of operations, respectively.

The supervisory body detailed that the state of Mexico was the entity with the highest number of correspondents at the end of 2024, with 5,657; while Tijuana, Baja California, was the municipality with the most correspondents, with 1,349.

“The proportion of the population with access to at least one correspondent within a distance of four kilometers was 90 percent, which represents 47 percent of localities with more than 20 inhabitants,” the CNBV stated.