López Obrador bets on “Mexicanizing” Banamex and celebrates Salinas Pliego’s interest in the bank

Andrés Manuel López Obrador stated this Thursday that Citigroup's departure from commercial banking in Mexico and the sale of Banamex could be good news if the entity remains in the hands of the country's big capital. "We can turn it into something very good if, without authoritarian measures, we manage to Mexicanize this bank, which was owned by Mexicans since the 19th century," the president said in a message posted on social networks. The president has made his commitment clear and has applauded the interest expressed publicly by Ricardo Salinas Pliego, owner of Banco Azteca and TvAzteca and the third richest man in Mexico. However, it has also included Carlos Slim and Carlos Hank González, Chairman of Banorte's Board of Directors, on the list of potential buyers.and has not ruled out the participation of foreign businessmen to take over a group that has 1.4 billion pesos in assets.

“It could be Mexican investors who stay with Banamex, return Banamex to Mexico. I am pleased that Ricardo Salinas Pliego has expressed his interest in buying it, he already has Banco Azteca and I think he has the resources to do so. The same could be thought of Carlos Slim, of Inbursa, of Carlos Hank González, of Banorte, of others... José Javier Garza Calderón, from Nuevo León, sent me a message”, said López Obrador in reference to the president of the association of entrepreneurs related to the Fourth Transformation. "And there must be many other investors, Mexican bankers," he added. The most viable profile, according to experts, is that of a medium-sized bank that already operates in the country.

Salinas Pliego has taken minutes to react and from Twitter, his usual, he has raised his hand again.

"Confirmed.

Put me on the buyers list.

Let's go with everything! ”, He has written.

“We are seeing how they leave us the changarrito and take advantage of the free time to evaluate the purchase well, will it be convenient?”, he asked in another tweet.

Confirmed.

Put me on the list of buyers by @Citibanamex.

Let's go with everything!

https://t.co/ujIlDSyGDA

– Ricardo Salinas Pliego (@RicardoBSalinas) January 13, 2022

The president, who is on leave due to his second contagion of covid-19, has recorded a video from his office in the National Palace accompanied by the Secretaries of the Interior and the Treasury, Adán Augusto López and Rogelio Ramírez de la O. He has tried to reduce the concern generated by the decision of Citigroup, which had been in the country for more than 100 years, and has disassociated it from the investment panorama and the stability of the national economy. He has pointed out that the exit has to do with the US financial group's policy of "returning to what it was, a wholesale bank, and leaving consumer banking." He has compared the operation with similar ones in China, India, Brazil, Argentina or Colombia and, in short, has presented the sale of the bank as an opportunity.

This enthusiasm, he clarified, "does not mean preventing" foreign investors from participating in the call or auction of the former National Bank of Mexico. “We are not closed, we are not chauvinists. But we would like this bank to be Mexicanized”, he insisted. "It also often happens that bank profits when the shareholders are foreigners are not reinvested in our country." That, in his opinion, is not only confused with capital flight, but also affects the tax system. “There is that possibility, an opportunity that Mexican investors can stay with Banamex and in this discussion it is obvious, it is worth saying, that this operation would also leave taxes and billions of pesos would enter the Treasury”, he stated.

López Obrador, despite his apparently combative discourse with the great economic powers, maintains constant contacts with some of the country's main businessmen and usually exhibits them.

He meets periodically with Carlos Slim, the last time at the end of December.

He has not hidden his relationship with Salinas Pliego and these weeks he is defining with the Business Coordinating Council a mixed investment package, public and private, in infrastructures.

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