Digitalization and Brokers Drive Mortgage Lending, Mexican Bankers Association Says

Cancún, Quintana Roo — Digitalization and strategic alliances with brokers are central to Mexican banks’ push to expand mortgage lending nationwide, said Gonzalo Palafox Rebollar, coordinator of the Mortgage Committee at the Mexican Bankers Association (ABM).

Speaking at the SOC 2026 National Convention, held in Cancún under the theme “Connections that transcend,” Palafox said the broker channel has become one of the industry’s most important and has been given a growing share of the business over the past six or seven years.

“A couple of months ago we released a platform so they can serve themselves,” he said. “Until a few months ago, the broker had to put the file together, digitize it, physically take it to an office and wait for one of our advisers to handle it. Now we give them direct access: they enter the platform, input the information, they don’t have to pass it to an executive, they send it directly to the analysis area, and that makes both the activity and response times easier.”

The platform, launched in the middle of the year, allows firms such as SOC to send digital files directly. The channel already accounts for close to 20 percent of the applications received by Banamex alone, which the bank says improves productivity and extends its coverage.

Fraud prevention built into the process

Palafox, who is also executive director of Banamex’s mortgage business, said the bank pairs its digital push with document security and the prevention of financial crime, using technology that lets it audit files precisely before approving any financing.

The process includes biometric validations, analysis of financial flows, identity authentication and Know Your Customer (KYC) reviews, along with in-person visits to confirm that a client’s economic profile matches the property, he said.

“Moving to processes that rely more on technology platforms also helps us have a better chance of identifying fraud,” Palafox said. “We have seen files that, in the eyes of a person and an analyst, could pass as real, but with platform-based processes that let you validate identity authentication, biometric issues and clarity in account statements and flows, fraudulent intentions can be detected with much better efficiency and effectiveness.”

He added that banks regard brokers as commercial allies and as co-responsible for protecting the channel from fraud attempts or problems related to money laundering.