Bank commissions in Mexico exceed those in US, Spain

An average of 30% of the revenue in Mexico's banking system comes from commissions, a higher rate than in the US, Spain and Canada.

Mexican financial services consumer protection agency Condusef compared the earnings reports of banks in Mexico with those of its parent banks abroad. It found that commissions account for 39% of Santander México's revenue, but only 20% of Banco Santander's income in Spain. Likewise, BBVA Bancomer makes 36% of its revenue from commissions, but the rate declines to 19% in Spain.

Citibanamex brings in 33% from commissions, while US-based Citibank makes 18%. Scotiabank makes 19% in Mexico and 14% in Canada.

Mexico's banks made 108bn pesos (US$5.81bn) on commissions last year, up from 100bn pesos in 2016.

Condusef said the use of technology to collect commissions should allow banks to lower their fees, and that it plans to send recommendations to that end to the central bank.

Confusef also reported that there were 85,698 claims of disputed commissions totaling 218mn pesos in Q1.