Open Banking Core for the Mexican Government
Channel: The ASF
Date: 2024-01-22

The fintech industry in Mexico is growing rapidly, with several startups and established companies offering innovative financial services due to the increasing use of mobile devices, and government efforts to promote financial inclusion.

In this talk, we will discuss the role that Mexico’s National Research and Innovation Center for ICT (INFOTEC) is playing in the development of Open Technology as Digital Public Good. I will also share insights from our own experience in implementing our Banking CORE (based on MIFOS/Fineract) within government-owned financial institutions in Mexico.

These institutions play an important role in promoting financial inclusion and supporting economic development.

INFOTEC is a key contributor to Mexico’s Digital transformation and capacity building through the development of specialized talent and R&D. The Banking CORE is an open-source software platform that provides a range of financial services, including savings, loans, and payments. It is designed to be scalable and flexible, making it suitable for use by a wide range of financial institutions. In this talk we will discuss the implementation, architecture and present a demo of the technical part.

In conclusion, we believe that open technology has the potential to play a significant role in promoting financial and digital inclusion in Mexico. Our Banking CORE is an example of how open technology can be used to improve the efficiency and accessibility without a multimillion-dollar price tag.

Speakers: Federico C González Waite
Federico González Waite is a true hands-on innovator and cyber enthusiast with a keen eye for the use of technology as a tool for social inclusion and development. He has extensive experience in a range of roles within the Mexican and New Zealand governments, the private sector, and international organizations.

Currently, Federico is the Executive Director of Mexico’s National Research and Innovation Center for ICT (INFOTEC). In this role, he has been a promoter of the use of open source technology and a key player in developing Mexico’s technological capacities and digital public infrastructure.

Prior to this role, he served as Technology Advisor to the General Director of the Federal Electricity Commission, in the Internet for All Project. He also served as Chief Technology and Innovation Officer at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where he laid the foundations for the New Mexican Electronic Passport. In the Ministry of Agriculture, he served as Deputy CTO and as Director of Information Security and Strategic Planning. In this role, he led the implementation of the National Beneficiary Registry in Open Source and Cloud Technology.

Federico holds a Master’s degree in Public Policy from Tel Aviv University, Israel, and a Bachelor’s degree in International Business and Marketing from the Auckland University of Technology in New Zealand. In 2022, he completed an Executive Certification in Public Policy at Harvard University Kennedy School. In 2021, he was awarded in the Top 100 CIO Mexico Edition. He has served on the national Cybersecurity Council, the National Digital Strategy Committee, and the Digital Nations Sustainable Govt IT Workgroup.

James Dailey
James is the original brains behind Mifos which then contributed and created the Fineract project. A serial entrepreneur, he is currently CEO of BaaSFlow which offers commercial open source banking solutions. James is a fintech expert in emerging markets focused on banking and payment interoperability. He is an Apache member and current PMC Chair of Fineract.

Victor Manuel Romero Rodriguez
Hailing from Mexico City, Victor Romero now has over 20 years of experience in the area of Information Technology applied to Financial Services after completing his Bachelor of Computer Science at the National Polytechnic Institute,

He is the Chief Architect for Financial Solution at Infotec the Mexican Federal Institution that creates digital solutions based on the Mifos and Fineract Ecosystem, he has successfully overcome challenges related to aligning Open Source Technologies to the regulatory rules for bringing best in class software for Federal Financial Institutions to strike a balance between innovation and compliance.

During this journey, Victor has implemented APIs that enable customer-facing flows and improve the user experience while handling securely the sensitive data of the financial transactions.
Having used Mifos X and Mifos Payment Hub Enterprise Edition as two of the pillars to solve the needs of banking and fintech customers, Victor is adept at crafting innovative solutions using open source core banking APIs.