Banorte officially launches its digital bank Bineo

With an initial capital of 1.8 billion pesos, Grupo Financiero Banorte formally launched Bineo, a digital bank designed to attract clients who no longer wish to visit physical bank branches.

Grupo Financiero Banorte’s CEO, Marcos Ramírez, stated that Bineo has the full support of the financial company and that, according to its business plan, profitability will be achieved in two to three years.

Over the next five years, Banorte’s new virtual bank aims to attract 2.8 million customers, or about 25% of the more than 12 million clients that its Banco Banorte now serves. Based on loan portfolio, Banco Banorte is currently the second largest in the local system.

«It was clear to us that there is a segment of our customers that today demands a 100 percent digital service,» the conglomerate’s president, Carlos Hank, said in an interview with Reuters, stating that Banco Banorte, which serves more traditional customers, will keep running its branch network and own mobile app in addition to the new venture.

Beginning with savings accounts and personal loans, Bineo enters an industry where it will face competition from smaller competitors like Argentina’s Ualá and the local branches of Brazilian fintech Nubank, which entice customers with very high credit card financing fees but extremely high savings yields.

«What we are looking for is to be a bank that will be able to offer its customers a mortgage, a credit card, an auto loan. All the financial services that today are offered to customers through a traditional bank will be offered through bineo,» Hank added.