Less than 1% of Mexicans invest in stock markets, while 61% fear losing their money when investing. Here are four apps available for Mexico that will allow you to invest in stocks, cryptocurrencies, or government titles starting at 100 pesos: Flink, Bitso, CetesDirecto, and GBM+.
Why Don’t Mexicans Invest?
According to a study by BlackRock, 54% of Mexicans feel that they do not have enough money to invest, and 61% fear losing their money if they do. These indicators are worrying, but they help explain another interesting fact. Less than 1% invest in stock markets, which is very low compared to 6 out of 10 Americans who invest in the stock market.
Another reason why Mexicans do not invest is because there is minimal stock market culture and a lack of financial education. In addition, Mexicans have little savings culture and almost no knowledge of the market.
The good news is that thanks to fintech, investment platforms and apps have emerged that make it easier to buy and sell financial instruments. With these apps, investing has become easier than a decade ago, so indeed, in the future, there will be no cultural, educational, or infrastructural barriers. Thus, anyone can participate as an investor in markets.
Fintechs Will Dominate Mexico this Year
Fintechs are growing faster and faster and will dominate Mexico in 2022. Latin American fintech is not far behind. Since these platforms have more legal guarantees now, it is crucial to know the strongest fintech in Mexico and those with significant growth in 2022. It will be possible to generate trust among users to invest without any concern.
Some of these are Flink, Bitso, CetesDirecto, and GBM+; fintech is growing, and it is popular to start investing.
Know your Investor Profile
Before downloading any app, it is essential to know your investor profile. Investing is an analytical game that comes with risks. Therefore, the better you know your profile and the market, the better your investment results.
The key to the beginning is to have a clear idea about the term, amount, and risk that you are willing to take to invest. This test to know your profile is an excellent start to finding out which instruments are more convenient to invest in.
Also, if you don’t know about financial concepts, you can look at Platzi’s online courses on Personal Finance. The objective is that when investing, you are informed about the risks and the impact that they can have on your finances.
The 4 best apps to invest in Mexico
These four apps available in Mexico allow you to invest in different financial instruments. For example, Amazon or Tesla shares, cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, or government securities, such as bonds or cetes.
1. Flink
Flink is the first Mexican app that allows you to invest in the U.S. stock market from your mobile device. You can invest in fractions of shares from 30 pesos without commissions. Users can buy fragments of shares from companies like Tesla, Amazon, Netflix, or Nubank.
For example, on December 9, during Nubank’s stock market debut, Flink reported in a press release that 2,000 Mexicans invested in Nu shares through its app.
In the first 48 hours after Nu went public, hundreds of investors traded on the Flink app to buy fractions of shares. This places it in the top 4 of the companies with the highest number of transactions in Mexico within the platform.
Flink
Flink offers an accessible product to democratize access to public financial markets in Mexico. Among the apps to invest in, it has established itself as one of the favorites for Generation Z and Millennials. Investment funds like Accel and ALLVP back it.
To invest in this app, you only need to have an active account, be of legal age and download Flink from the App Store or Play Store. To activate your account, you have to provide basic identity information and deposit a minimum of 100 pesos. Cash can be deposited in different establishments, charged to a card within the app, or by SPEI transfer at no cost.
2. Bitso
More than a million users buy and sell cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin or Ethereum on Bitso, the leading crypto exchange in Latin America. To expand the financial possibilities of Mexicans and Latin Americans through the sale of BTC for MXN, Bitso provides the following services:
- Bank remittances.
- Payment of services such as rent, telephony, internet, electricity, etc.
- Online shopping.
- International money transfers.
- P2P payments.
Bitso
FintechFundadores:Ben Peters, Daniel Vogel, Pablo Gonzalez
Industrias:Fintech
Inversionistas:Coatue, Tiger Global Management
Etapa y Capital levantado:Serie C, $250M
Ubicación y proyección:México
Bitso allows you to exchange Bitcoin (BTC) and eight altcoins: Ethereum (ETH), Ripple (XRP), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Litecoin (LTC), Basic Attention Token (BAT), Golem (GNT), True USD (TUSD), Decentraland (MANA) and DAI (DAI). In addition to these, on December 22 of last year, they announced the integration of two of the most used tokens in the metaverse: The Sandbox and Axie Infinity, $SAND y $AXS, through Bitso Alpha.
It also integrated the decentralized finance (DeFi) token $YFI from Yearn Finance.
To buy or sell cryptocurrencies on Bitso, you need to create an account and provide basic identification information. Cash deposits can be made to the Bitso account in Oxxo stores with a commission of 2.6% plus VAT.
You can also make free and instant transfers with Bitso Transfer or SPEI transfer. To withdraw funds (MXN), the user needs to provide a debit account. They can withdraw by transfer to a debit card or through SPEI at no cost.
Another of Bitso’s growing services is sending cryptocurrency remittances since it is faster and its commissions are much lower.
Rapid Growth
In May 2021, it became the second Mexican unicorn startup. They received an investment of 250 million dollars from Tiger Global Coatue, Paradigm, BOND, and Valor Capital Group. That positioned Bitso as the first unicorn of the cryptocurrency ecosystem and the third most valuable fintech in Latin America, valued at 2.2 billion dollars.
Moreover, Bitso recently announced that it is the new sponsor of the Tigres of Monterrey soccer team. Soon, some players will receive their payment in this cryptocurrency, and the fans will be able to use it in transactions at the box office.
The volatility of the price of cryptocurrencies is a case study. It’s risky, but it’s estimated that 100 dollars worth of Bitcoin in 2010 would be worth roughly 47 million dollars today.
Large corporations have shown their interest in Bitcoin and Blockchain technology. Therefore, the optimists of this cryptocurrency believe that its price will continue to rise.
3. CetesDirecto
CetesDirecto is the platform that the Mexican government launched in 2010 to promote and democratize savings and investment within the country. It allows Mexicans to access the certificates of the federation’s treasury (cetes).
CetesDirecto
FintechFundadores:Nacional Financiera
Industrias:Fintech
Ubicación y proyección:México
Users can invest in government securities such as cetes and bonds (bonos, bondes, and udibonos). Besides these options, as of December 8, the Savings Protection Bonds (BPAS) were also incorporated.
In this platform, you can invest with as little as 100 to 10 million pesos without commissions or intermediaries, in terms of 1 month, three months, six months, or 12 months. Also, you can invest bonos in terms of 1 to 30 years, the bondes in 5 years, and the udibonos in 10 or 30 years.
CetesDirecto manages debt instruments issued by the government to finance itself. User lends to the government, and they repay the loan with interest at the end of the given term. This system is designed for different types of people with various economic capacities who are interested in saving. This option allows them to invest with little capital, choose a convenient term, and profitability, just like more prominent investors.
How to Invest in Cetes and Bonds in Mexico
To invest in cetes and bonds of the Mexican government, you have to open a free account that has the following requirements:
- Mexican nationality (or proof of permanent legal residence)
- Be over 18 years old
- Debit card number or interbank CLABE of a national bank; the user must be the owner
- Code to the Population Registry (CURP) and federal taxpayer registration (RFC) of the user
Cetes Directo allows users to program recurring savings by making an automatic reinvestment. It also has a calculator to see the interest generated from the amount and term you want to invest. It is much easier to choose if you compare them according to your expectations, especially if you’re going to save for a vacation, buy property, invest for your retirement, etc.
Government securities generate lower returns but are the safest investment instruments. If you are a conservative investor, it is worth looking at the Cetes Directo offer.
It is an excellent option for Mexicans who want to start in the world of investments without risk since it has a fixed rate of return and immediate availability of money.
3. GBM+
The digital platform GBM+ has complete functionalities that allow users to manage their money from any device. Grupo Bursátil Mexicano developed as a financial corporation operating for more than 35 years and is present in Mexico, Brazil, the United States, and Chile.
GBM+
FintechCEO:Pedro de Garay
Head:Javier de la Madrid
Industrias:Fintech
Inversionistas:SoftBank Latin America Ventures
Etapa y capital levantado:Late stage, $150M
Ubicación y proyección:México y Latinoamérica
In 2013, it launched its GBM plus app, which made available investing from 100 Mexican pesos in stocks and investment funds, among other financial instruments listed on the Mexican Stock Exchange (BMV).
The National Banking and Securities Commission (CNBV) regulates this platform that innovates digitalizing financial services, and expert analysts and advisors also back it. It constantly develops products to get the most out of investments and improve people’s finances and quality of life.
The growth of GBM+ has been such that last July, it received 150 million dollars from SoftBank Latin America Fund, which made GBM+ the fourth Mexican fintech unicorn.
The platform offers to trade shares of public companies. On December 13, Trading Global was incorporated, a service through which investors can invest in fractional shares of the U.S. stock market (Nasdaq and NYSE) with just 20 Mexican pesos.
After partnering with the global infrastructure brokerage firm Drive Wealth, this opportunity came about.
It has Wealth Management using the user’s profile to recommend ad hoc investment strategies. Furthermore, it offers a deposit account that generates more competitive interests than commercial banking.
Commission Scheme Varies for each Product
- Smart Cash: no commission
- Wealth Management: variable commissions depending on the size of the account and the investment term
- Trading: the only commission charged is from brokerage, only when the user makes a purchase or sale
- From MX$1,000 to $1,000,000, it charges a 0.25% commission
- Silver: MX$1,000,001 to $3,000,000 it charges 0.20%
- Gold: MX$3,000,001 to $5,000,000 it charges 0.15%
- Platinum: MX$5,000,001 to $10,000,000 it charges 0.125%
- Black: More than MX$10,000,000 it charges 0.10%
Choosing where to invest or deposit your money is not an easy decision: first, we must know our investor profile and have some knowledge of how to manage our finances. GBM+ teaches us to invest through different resources, such as the Academy, e-books, webinars, courses, GBM Talks, and partnerships.
Now that you know these investment apps, which one will you choose?
If you still have questions about cryptocurrencies and new investment platforms, learn more about fintech on our website.
Actualizado por: Perla Romero, 03/02/2022
