Saturday, November 1, 2025

‘Confidently Wrong’ about banking in Mexico: A new podcast from our CEO

Banking is a boring topic — I get it. But what has always been a sleepy, boring issue has become a very hot topic in the past few months in Mexico.

The government-enforced shutdown of three separate banking institutions in the past few weeks (under pressure from the United States government) has produced a lot of questions, concerns and general anxiety.

My wife and I had an account with CIBanco and I must admit that I was Confidently Wrong about what would happen to our account.

I figured that the pressure from the United States was part of a grand tariff negotiation and ultimately would not impact us — needless to say, I was very wrong!

We were actually out of the country visiting family and friends when I received an email from the Mexican government saying that my account (and all accounts) at CIBanco were frozen and that I would need to open a new account elsewhere and transfer the money to have access to our funds. Talk about stressful!

In this week’s episode of MND’s Confidently Wrong podcast, we talk about Banking in Mexico.

What’s going on right now? As a foreigner, do you really need a bank account in Mexico? How do you choose from the myriad of bank options? And what are the pros and cons of opening a bank account in the country?

It’s the kind of topic that’s not important until it’s REALLY important. Tune in and hear our discussion, as well as find out if I ever got my money back!

You can listen on our YouTube channel, Mexico News Daily TV, below or here on Spotify.

Confidently wrong about banking in Mexico - Episode 8

Travis Bembenek is the CEO of Mexico News Daily and has been living, working or playing in Mexico for nearly 30 years.

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