Formal Exchange Centers in Ciudad Juárez Face Unfair Competition from Unregistered Businesses
The formal exchange centers located in Ciudad Juárez are facing unfair competition from hundreds of unregistered “pirate” businesses, according to Elizabeth Villalobos Luna, president of the National Chamber of Commerce in Juárez. These informal businesses are not audited by the National Banking and Securities Commission, allowing them to avoid costs of up to half a million pesos a year.
Last Thursday, Luna had a meeting with the owners of around 300 exchange centers in the city, out of about 700 that exist. She stated that out of the 400 businesses that did not attend the meeting, it is not known exactly how many are registered, but it can be assured that the informal ones number in the hundreds.
During the meeting, they discussed how a complaint could be made to the National Banking and Securities Commission, as individual complaints made by some owners had not been addressed. Before making a mass complaint, the owners of the exchange centers who were not present at the meeting will be contacted.
Luna emphasized that the issue is not corruption, but impunity, as the authority does not take action against the unregistered businesses. Formal exchange centers are losing money as they have lowered their income margin to up to 50 cents per dollar, while the “pirate” businesses can operate with that level of profit.
Formal exchange centers have additional expenses, totaling almost 500 thousand pesos per year, including a compliance officer, insurance, Infonavit for staff, annual audit reports, and annual training for employees.
A second meeting will be held next week with the owners of all formal exchange centers to discuss strategies to combat informality in the sector. Luna stressed that a 50 cents per dollar margin is unsustainable for formal exchange centers and action must be taken to address the unfair competition they are facing.