VIDEO | The future of trade finance in Mexico - Trade Treasury Payments

• Home
• Blog
• Articles
• VIDEO | The future of trade finance in Mexico

VIDEO | The future of trade finance in Mexico

At the BAFT (Bankers Association for Finance and Trade) General Annual Meeting in Washington, DC, Trade Treasury Payments (TTP) spoke with Gerardo Gutiérrez-Olvera Cabrales, Head of Trade Finance and International Business at Banorte, and Vice Chair of the ICC Global Banking Commission, to discuss how Mexico’s local banks are addressing cross-border finance needs and what lies ahead for the region’s trade economy.

Gutiérrez-Olvera said, “Exports and imports account for almost 75% of the Mexican economy. So, a large portion of bank financing in Mexico is already somehow related to trade finance.” 

Yet much of Mexico’s trade still moves on open account terms, particularly with the United States. For SMEs and unaffiliated traders, that can mean added exposure to payment risk and limited access to competitive working capital. 

Gutiérrez-Olvera said, “That has given us a unique opportunity to work together with regional and local banks in the US and Canada in order to service our clients, specifically in the SME arena. What we have been trying to do is connect the dots in terms of which of these clients are already part of the global value chain and how we can leverage the receivables from larger clients with better credit quality to offer them more competitive financing opportunities.”

That effort comes at a time when political uncertainty is shaping how banks, businesses, and policymakers think about North American integration. That mindset is fuelling Banorte’s strategy. Whether through compliance with USMCA rules of origin or support for clients that are modifying their working capital strategy or adjusting CapEx plans amid the uncertainty.

Still, a broader challenge of improving inclusion in trade finance in Mexico and Latin America remains.

Gutiérrez-Olvera said, “The only way that countries like Mexico, Guatemala, and Honduras can make trade more relevant to their economies is by getting the local SMEs to participate in the global value chain. That takes joint efforts by the private and public sectors, as well as banks and education, so that we all become more comfortable with this high-quality asset that is trade finance.”

That means helping more local firms participate in global supply chains and increasing the share of domestic value added in exports.