Uber Technologies is teaming up with payments processor Mastercard and bank BBVA to launch a debit card for drovers in Mexico, an executive of the tech company said on Tuesday, a latest strategy adopted to bring more of the people to the banking services in a country where people prefer doing business in cash .
At an event to announce the partnership, Uber’s general manager for Mexico, Federico Ranero said that Uber is in support of extending financial services in the country.
It is for the first time when Uber is offering payment card service outside of the United States by launching a debit card in Mexico, Ranero said. The debit card will initially be introduced in six cities including Puebla, Guadalajara, Monterrey, Tijuana, Merida and Mexico City, and will eventually be extended to roll out in rest of the country.
For using the card, driver will not be required to pay any commissions, said Carlos Lopez-Moctezuma, BBVA’s head of open banking.
Uber and other tech companies were in pursuit of finding ways to do business in Mexico, a country where more than half of the populations do not use the banking services. Even Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador does not use a credit card or checking account, as he repeatedly said so during his speeches.
Uber is already bringing the people into the financial system, Ranero said. In order to receive their earnings, it is mandatory for Uber drivers to have a bank account, and roughly 35% of its workforce in Mexico now has a banking relation as they opened an account specially for the purpose of receiving their payments, he said.
After the current partnership with BBVA, there is no need of drivers to go to a bank to open their accounts as they will now be able to open accounts using Uber app, Lopez-Moctezuma said.
