Special measures
A U.S. strike on Mexican banks, plus Miranda de Wallace speaks from the grave
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“Financial facilitators like CIBanco, Intercam, and Vector are enabling the poisoning of countless Americans by moving money on behalf of cartels, making them vital cogs in the fentanyl supply chain.”
The words of U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, quoted in the June 25 press release announcing “historic orders” targeting three Mexican financial institutions, conjure images of shady men in suits conspiring with thugs; but when I think of Intercam or CIBanco, I see gray-haired gringos in socks and sandals, carrying a manila envelope under one arm and a small dog under the other.
A few weeks ago, I was told at my local bank that they would no longer accept personal checks in US dollars (for the time being), and I knew there would be a surge of chatter in chats and Facebook groups as American residents figured out an alternative method for moving money from their U.S. bank accounts to Mexico. These midsize banks, accused last week of being “of primary money laundering concern in connection with illicit opioid trafficking,” are both popular with foreigners. The third institution targeted by the U.S. government is a brokerage firm called Vector Casa de Bolsa, which is owned by Alfonso Romo Garza, a Monterrey businessman who once served as AMLO’s chief of staff.
While the U.S. actions—which will cut off the three institutions from transactions with U.S. banks—hit international headlines and were a hot topic in the national conversation last week, the impact on customers was likely disproportionately felt by U.S. citizens here. Both Intercam and CIBanco began as financial consulting, investment and foreign exchange services that eventually expanded into retail banking, and catered to the needs of foreigners—particularly American and Canadian retirees—setting up shop in places like San Miguel de Allende, Chapala/Ajijic, Puerto Vallarta and Los Cabos. As Finance and Public Credit Secretary Edgar Amador Zamora (who previously worked at Vector) was keen to emphasize, these three “small-scale” financial institutions represent under 1% of all national deposits and the federal government is confident any damage can be contained from affecting the wider national financial system.
On June 26, Intercam temporarily suspended all electronic transfers and the local branches in San Miguel (there are three) told customers they couldn’t withdraw cash from their accounts until the next day. Mexico’s banking and securities commission (CNBV) announced that afternoon it would take over temporary management of the three institutions to protect depositors, and by the end of the day, SPEI transfers were back online for Intercam.
CIBanco and Intercam have both issued statements strongly denying the accusations, asserting their many years of regulatory compliance and assuring customers that their deposits are safe. However, as analyst Vanda Felbab-Brown told Reuters, “being cut off from the U.S. financial system is a death blow.”
President Sheinbaum has demanded more evidence from the U.S., saying that there is “no proof” of the allegations in the orders, which include CIBanco processing over US $2.1 million in payments to Chinese companies that allegedly shipped precursor chemicals to Mexico, and Intercam executives meeting “directly with suspected CJNG members to discuss money laundering schemes” in 2022. Vector is implicated in laundering in the Genaro García Luna case according to the FinCEN order, but as pointed out by investigative journalist Peniley Ramírez (who has covered the García Luna case closely), there are over 100 accounts at dozens of banking institutions listed in the case files, many at big banks like Banamex, BBVA, Banorte, HSBC and Santander and just one that is associated with Vector. “To date, the information we have from FinCEN isn’t enough to give us the full picture.”
The burden of proof here is low, however, since the U.S. isn’t opening a criminal investigation but rather implementing “special measures” that the Secretary of the Treasury can require of U.S. financial institutions under the 2024 FEND Off Fentanyl Act if “reasonable grounds exist for concluding” that there is illicit activity. Curious side note: the links to the FinCEN orders from the Treasury press release are broken (but they are accessible on the Federal Register website).
While attacking illicit financial flows is critical to any serious attempts to combat organized crime, the choice of targeting these relatively small Mexican institutions is telling. Is this a rehearsal for going after bigger multinational banks, or a single, low-stakes show of force meant to scare everyone into line?
It’s too soon to say whether Intercam, CIBanco and Vector can survive the reputational damage of these orders and possible investigations opened by Mexican authorities, but the burden of compliance with increased anti-money laundering and anti-terrorism regulations and crackdowns will make it harder and harder for small local banks to operate at all.
In other cross-border financial news, the controversial remittance tax on foreign citizens who send money abroad from the U.S. dropped from 3.5% to 1% in the latest Senate update to Trump’s “big, beautiful bill.”
Are you a U.S. citizen customer at one of the above financial institutions? If you’re willing to share your experiences, please get in touch: hola@themexpatriate.com.
Isabel Miranda de Wallace may be dead, but not gone. In yet another example of curious timing in this case—her death was reported on March 8, mere days before the publication of a damning investigative book about her—journalist Ciro Gómez Leyva reported last week that he had received a letter from the deceased anti-kidnapping activist.
This comes just a few weeks after the case that Miranda built around the alleged 2005 kidnapping and murder of her son, Hugo Alberto, received a severe blow from the Supreme Court. Juana Hilda González, who was convicted in the case and imprisoned for 19 years, was released after the court invalidated her sentence because she was tortured into a confession (I covered this in my June 12 edition).
Miranda’s brother, Roberto, said his sister had dictated the letter to him on her deathbed. “As you know, I am in very delicate health,” she begins. She goes on to accuse the SCJN of operating like a drug cartel “if they release Juana Hilda” and laments that “we Mexicans will never have true justice.”
Why would this letter come to light now?
“Of course, Roberto Miranda is concerned about his future…he’s trying to save himself,” said journalist Ricardo Raphael (author of the investigative book, “Fabricación”) in an interview about the posthumous letter, whose authenticity has been widely questioned. “They are trying to avoid persecution, and turning to old friends, the ones who always gave Isabel Miranda a platform [Gómez Leyva], to see if they can support and cover them.”
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