As in many countries, Mexico’s banking sector has no shortage of neobanks racing to sign up new customers via a digital-only approach. Advanced apps and no need to visit branches may work well for users familiar and comfortable with technology in day-to-day life, but it’s not the only way to modernize. In a country where trust, access and cash habits still shape how people bank, digital-only options aren’t always the most effective.
Samuel Chaves, Executive Vice President at Bankaool, has seen this trade-off up close. His background includes building and scaling neobank ventures across Latin America. That experience shapes how he thinks about modernization as part of Bankaool’s leadership team. For Samuel Chaves, it’s a question of how to add digital capability without leaving behind customers who prefer or need branch access.
How Modernizing Looks Different from Going Full Digital |
|
|---|---|
| Neobank | Modernizing regional bank |
| Optimizes for tech-comfortable, already-banked customers | Looks for ways to include everyone in services, including digital |
| Scales quickly by skipping physical infrastructure | Expands reach by keeping physical infrastructure and adding digital |
| Has to build trust as a new, unproven brand | Extends trust already established through regulation and in-person relationships |
| Digital tools replace the traditional banking experience | Digital tools extend and improve the banking experience |
Modernizing Means Including Everyone, Not Just Digital-Ready Customers
Bankaool positions itself as spanning the gap between traditional banking and what a neobank can offer, citing it as a differentiator for the brand. On its website, it says, “Bankaool is the answer to the new banking era. We combine the innovation, speed and simplicity of an online bank with the proximity of warm and cordial attention in our physical branches.”
Samuel Chaves has seen firsthand who neobank ventures in Latin America reach well and who they leave behind. A digital-only model tends to serve customers already comfortable navigating apps and managing money without physical touchpoints.
The gap shows up in consumer financial research. According to INEGI's 2024 Encuesta Nacional de Inclusión Financiera (ENIF), the share of Mexican adults aged 18-70 with at least one formal financial product grew from 68.4% in 2015 to 76.5% in 2024 — an increase of 8.1 percentage points. That leaves 23.5% of adults without any formal financial product. In 2024:
- 63% had savings accounts of some type
- 37% had credit of some type
- 22% had some type of insurance
The top reasons given for not using credit were not wanting to get into debt and not believing they met the requirements. Often, the reasons consumers give for not adopting financial tools, particularly digital ones, are more about trust and understanding than access.
For Chaves, modernizing means expanding rather than narrowing what a bank offers, building digital tools designed to help onboard those who aren’t currently positioned to use them.
Bankaool Keeps Its Physical Infrastructure But Adds Digital Tools
Executive leaders at Bankaool have categorized the business as “a technology company with a banking license.”
Even so, the bank isn't positioned as a fintech company; it's also investing heavily in physical infrastructure. Bankaool plans to open at least 49 new branches across Mexico in 2026, expanding into cities like Tijuana, Guadalajara, Monterrey, Puebla, Veracruz and Cancún. In Tijuana, the bank opened two new locations as part of a strategy to reach 200,000 to 300,000 new clients in Baja California over the next two years.
For Chaves, the investment aligns with a lesson from his neobank background. “Digital reach and physical reach solve different problems,” he says. “A neobank can onboard a customer anywhere cell signals work, but it can't build the kind of local trust and relationships a branch creates in certain communities.”
Regional Banks Don’t Have to Start From Scratch With Trust
A neobank may need to build trust without a regulatory track record, ratings history or licenses of its own to point to. A bank like Bankaool is ahead of the game as it works to integrate new offerings. For example, it's regulated by the Comisión Nacional Bancaria y de Valores (CNBV) and Banco de México, with deposits protected by the Instituto para la Protección al Ahorro Bancario (IPAB) — Mexico's equivalent of the U.S. FDIC.
Those things are earned over years of operating history and audited performance, and they matter because consumer trust in Mexico is linked closely with regulation. Jumio conducted a survey in 2025 to find out what types of institutions and technology Mexicans trust. Sectors that scored on the higher side for trust in the survey tended to be those with compliance and security layers, such as:
- Banking and financial services (67% trusted)
- Telecommunications (59%)
- Healthcare (56%)
Respondents were more likely to view high-tech, low-regulation industries as fraud risks, which is why industries like online gaming and social media scored much lower. Online authenticity is a growing concern for Mexicans, with almost 70% stating that AI-powered fraud poses a greater threat than traditional identity theft.
“Some neobanks solve the trust problem by partnering with a licensed bank behind the scenes,” Chaves says. “It's a workaround, but it leaves the customer-facing brand wanting when consumers are asking who's really behind their money.” Regional banks like Bankaool can modernize without addressing these specific issues, as their existing regulatory infrastructure provides credibility.
Digital Tools Should Extend Banking Options, Not Replace Them
Bankaool's product design reflects this idea. For example, a customer who opens an account entirely through the app receives a Level 2 account; a customer who opens an account in a branch receives a Level 4 account with higher deposit limits.
The distinction shows that Bankaool doesn't treat its digital and in-person channels as interchangeable. Each access point serves different needs for the consumer and the bank.
That's the difference Samuel Chaves points to between modernizing and becoming a neobank. A neobank builds a single digital experience and asks every customer to fit inside it. Bankaool has taken a different approach, using digital tools to extend what a customer can do without asking them to give up the branch relationship that many still rely on.
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