Apple Pay goes live in Mexico with Fondeadora

Fondadora brings apple Pay to its customers in Mexico through an industry-first collaboration with Pamentology.

Mexico City-headquartered financial technology company Fondeadora is leveraging Paymentology technology to implement Apple Pay capabilities across its financial services offerings in Mexico.

The deal will see the Mexican fintech integrate Apple Pay into its mobile wallet and payment processing system, while Paymentology, a payment processing company specializing in digital payments, including mobile payments, will provide the underlying digital payment platform to support the move.

As a result of this arrangement, Fondeadora will be able to offer a secure and convenient mobile payment solution for its Mexican consumers through Apple Pay.

By doing so, the fintech can offer faster transaction processing, appropriate security measures and data analytics, while the feature enables cardholders to make payments online or in-store with participating merchants that accept the payment method.

With this, Fondeadora has become one of the first financial institutions to bring Apple Pay to Mexico.

The company’s managing director reflects on this achievement, Jorge Fernandezcomments: “Without the help of our issuer-processor partner, Paymentology, we would not have been able to launch such a service.”

“We look forward to our continued relationship with the team at Paymentology and to creating more industry milestones,” he adds.

Development of Mexican payment system

Fondeadora’s advance into the Mexican payment market through the use of digital wallets such as Apple Pay is significant for several reasons; Chief among these is its compliance with the country’s ‘fintech law’.

Mexico became one of the first countries in Latin America (LatAm) to promote the purpose of fintech when it introduced its ‘Ley para Regular las Instituciones de Tecnología Financiera’ reform, or ‘fintech law’ as it is colloquially recognized, back in March 2018.

In a nutshell, the law aims to promote “financial inclusion, provide legal certainty to users, create greater competition for the financial sector, preserve financial stability and prevent money laundering,” which Carlos Torresattorney at the Mexican law firm YGConsultorestold The Fintech Times.

A large part of achieving this financial inclusion and legal certainty is through the use of digital wallets, with the expectation that at least half of the Mexican population will have adopted their use by 2025.

In terms of scope, Fondeadora’s service will allow wallet users to make digital payments in other parts of LatAm, including Peru, Brazil and Argentina, thereby establishing a stronger fintech network in the region.

The Mexican fintech reform also outlines strong measures to combat financial crime and money laundering in particular. Apple Pay’s use of biometric security technology therefore makes it a suitable addition to the country’s payment package.

Alejandro Del RioPaymentology’s regional director for LatAm describes how the post-covid digital economy in Mexico has “flourished and with it new consumer demands around digital ways of paying.”

“Our payments technology and Fondeadora’s understanding of the needs of Mexican customers have made us the perfect partners to lead the charge for the rapidly transforming financial industry in LatAm,” he adds.