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Banks or Investment Houses To Recommend


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My search of the webboard did not come up with anything so I ask what banks or investment houses are recommended here.

I am U.S. bank based if that makes a difference for financial transfers or associations between U.S. and Mexico banks.

I want to keep money in pesos, an amount to justify getting a decent Mexico interest rate return.

I am permanent resident.

What are your favorite banks or investment houses and why?

 

Thank you.

 

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This topic has been on and off this forum many times... The phrase that I remember and apply is to keep an amount you can afford to lose in any Mexican bank... I am sure that some will disagree with me but  when in Rome...Caveat Emptor

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Do Not repeat do not, move more money into Mexico than you need to live on. You do not have to be a Financial Adviser to check the historic USD/MXN Pesos exchange rates to see hat the Peso continues to fall in value vis the USD.

Getting the "higher" interest rate for money on deposit in Mexico a false short term feel good experience

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Multiva is the best if you have money in pesos. Stay away from actinver. 

Also you can't blame the bank if the peso is a volatile currency. Any investment involves risk and a simple transaction such as converting usd to pesos could have gone either way. 

If some of you converted usd to Canadian when it was 1:1 and now Canadian went down over time, do you blame Canadian banks? 

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We moved to Mexico when the peso was at 9:1 USD.  I am sure glad that we did not use Mexican banks, or invest in pesos, as the rate is now 18.5:1 USD.  We might have accumulated some growth in the number of pesos owned, but they would now be worth less than 50% in purchasing power.

 

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I've been happy with CI Banco.  Deposit US checks for reasonable exchange rates and after initial setup period, 2 weeks, deposited funds are available in 48 hrs. YMMV

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Mutiva is pretty good but if you want to do any on line transactions you had better be sharp in Spanish. Also the wait time to access the money from a USD check deposited with them is 6 weeks. Better than Actinver, but still pretty slow. I notice my US checks clear my bank within one week and despite their explanations, I still do not understand why I still have to wait so long to get at the pesos. "Banking rules" is such a catchall phrase and it does not help me any.

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I have been using Actinver for years and have a small brokerage account. Any time I try to cash  a US check I never have to wait for the six seeks because the amount of the check is less than my Bolsa account. There are many good options. I like Actinver best because that is where I know and like the staff and because we are all friends things go better than if I were walk into another bank where I don't know anyone.

Which one is best? The best thing is that many of us have different opinions suggesting that there are several good alternatives.

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Wow, Actinver takes your checks but doesn't make the pesos available for 6 weeks?  FWIW,  I opened an account with CI Banco, deposited my Schwab USD check, which they showed in my account same day but was not accessible for 10 biz days. All subsequent deposits made, have the pesos available in 48 hrs. on the Debit Card with any ATM, regardless of my acct. balance. Good interest rates on savings, better than US, and full online access, SIPA transfers, ie Bill Pay. IMO it's the best local MX bank around. ymmv

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Very happy with CIBanco. I like the fact that when the bank is open, if I have trouble with the ATM (hasn't happened but who knows), I can just go next door. And there is a guard outside!

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I still keep all my money in the US with Bank of America. They're a PIA, but it works for me, especially since my son in the US is on the acct., so in case something happens to me, he can withdraw money easily. Good for when I want to say, "Take the family out to dinner" also.

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Investing and safeguarding your assets is often as much a matter of which currency you retain your assets in, as where you retain your assets.

The article below is from 2011 and was accurate then and fairly accurate is today. (Naturally without considering new gold-backed currencies and crypto-currencies.)  I am anxious to see an updated article containing those new factors.

The Four Real "Safe-Haven" Currencies

So if we're searching for safe-haven currencies, which ones should we look at?

The European euro? That won't do - there's too much of a chance of it splitting in two. That would be either good or bad - good if the weak-sister PIIGS of Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece and Spain split off to form their own weak bloc (leaving the euro strong), or bad if Germany and a few stronger countries split off (leaving only the weaker currencies in the euro). Either way, the euro is a risk, and a big one: After a split, the currencies would probably shift by 20% to 30% against each other, to give the weaker countries a chance of exporting their way out of problems.

The British pound sterling? What a very sweet, old-fashioned idea. If this were 1911 - or, better still, 1821 - this would be the ideal safe haven. But it's 2011, and Britain has all the same problems as the United States - only to a greater degree.

The Japanese yen? Japan has a much worse debt problem than the United States, and only the fact that Japan owes all that money to itself is keeping the Japan Government Bond (JGB) market stable.

The Chinese renminbi? A fashionable solution, but the reality is that China still won't let its own citizens get their money out freely. What's more, there is a huge glop of bad debts in the Chinese banking system that at some stage will cause big problems - so big, in fact, that the 2008 financial-system crash and collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings (PINK: LEHMQ) will seem like a springtime stroll.

Such afterthoughts as the Brazilian real, Australian dollar or Canadian dollar? While I'll grant you that Canada is much-better run than the United States, the ugly truth is that Brazil and Australia are no better run than any other country. In fact, all three of these countries had the great fortune to be heavily dependent on commodities at a time when commodity prices happened to soar.

If commodity prices decline, the innate problems facing each of these currencies' problems will become painfully apparent.

As our trip around the world

There are thus very few safe-haven currencies for you to invest in.

There are actually four clear winners:
 
  • The Swiss franc: Switzerland is the ideal European country - chiefly because it has a large-but-safe banking system. The Swiss National Bank made UBS AG (NYSE: UBS) and Credit Suisse Group AG (NYSE ADR: CS) recapitalize themselves properly and have forced the two to do more wealth management and less investment banking.
  • The Norwegian crown: Norway has oil, a large trust fund and no European Union membership. That trust fund (actually a very-well-managed, $570 billion sovereign wealth fund) makes this one ideal - even if oil prices collapse.
  • The Singapore dollar: This is a beautifully run country - the least corrupt in the world, in fact - and is a banking-and-trading entrepôt, to boot.
  • The Chilean peso: Yes, I'm recommending a South American currency as a safe-haven currency - my 1970s global-merchant banking colleagues would recoil in horror. All the same, Chile is less corrupt than the United States. It has a commodity economy, but is better run than Australia (and less likely to be under cut by cheaper labor, since Chilean labor is still quite cheap). And it has a trust fund (sovereign wealth fund) to guard against a return of low commodity prices.

 

 

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Shop around but I would suggest talking to Cesar RUBIO, Manager of O'Rourke & Associates, located in the lower level of Centro Laguna Mall, directly across from Wal-Mart... and immediately east of Black Coffee.

Cesar speaks perfect English and has a large number of ExPat clients.

See their web page:

O'Rourke & Associates

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On 5/26/2017 at 11:47 AM, El Saltos said:

Banco Multiva for banking and their investment arm MultiValores.  I highly recommend both of them.

Agree, we have been with them for 10 years.

We also have friends that have money in Singapore.

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We cash US$ or C$ denominated NOB cheques at Intercam on as needed bases, to top up our BBVA account. In by 13:00 with our cheque, the money is in our BVA account by 14;30-15:00 same day. We have learned to make the cheques a significant amount, say over $1,000 under $5,000, your rate is always an extra 0.15 extra/$. Very friendly staff with few changes.

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Thank you all for the good information.

I realize every person's money situation is different, how they go about accessing money, and even how they pay local bills, and especially how they invest.

What prompted the original post was selling a car here which would leave me with too many pesos to spend even over two years' time. Thus, I thought about parking them in a bank. However, with the currency discussions, and the peso's recent 20% fall and recovery to 18.5, I see the wisdom of not expecting a real return on pesos invested. The peso is just not stable enough.

Maybe the answer is to sell the vehicle in U.S. dollars but I wonder if Recaudadora would allow that transaction. Doesn't Recaud like to see the contract between buyer and seller in pesos? Or, can it be in dollars?

Thanks.

 

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2 hours ago, southland said:

Thank you all for the good information.

I realize every person's money situation is different, how they go about accessing money, and even how they pay local bills, and especially how they invest.

What prompted the original post was selling a car here which would leave me with too many pesos to spend even over two years' time. Thus, I thought about parking them in a bank. However, with the currency discussions, and the peso's recent 20% fall and recovery to 18.5, I see the wisdom of not expecting a real return on pesos invested. The peso is just not stable enough.

Maybe the answer is to sell the vehicle in U.S. dollars but I wonder if Recaudadora would allow that transaction. Doesn't Recaud like to see the contract between buyer and seller in pesos? Or, can it be in dollars?

Thanks.

 

Get paid in pesos and open an account with Intercam. I get interest on my chequeing account balance.

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