Mexico: Currency & Financial System

Mexico's currency is the peso, introduced in 1863 to replace the Spanish colonial real under a decimal system of 100 centavos. Silver pesos later circulated widely abroad and influenced the design of other currencies, including the US dollar. In 1993, Mexico redenominated the currency by removing three zeros, creating the "nuevo peso" before the "nuevo" label was dropped in 1996. The Bank of Mexico (Banco de Mexico), which gained formal autonomy from the federal government in 1994, is the sole issuer of pesos, and current banknotes range from twenty to one thousand pesos.

Mexico has operated a freely floating exchange rate since the 1994-95 peso crisis, with Banco de Mexico generally avoiding intervention to defend a particular rate. As of 2026, the peso has traded in a relatively strong range compared with recent years, a shift analysts have linked to nearshoring-driven investment and sustained tight monetary policy. Banco de Mexico pursued an easing cycle beginning in 2024 and cut its policy rate to 6.50 percent by May 2026, a level it has since held, including at its September 2026 meeting, as inflation has hovered near its target.

Mexico's banking sector is supervised by the National Banking and Securities Commission (CNBV) under a regulatory framework that adopted Basel III capital standards in 2013, ahead of the international timeline. As of 2026, the system comprised 52 banks, and the CNBV confirmed that the country's eight largest banks exceeded minimum capital requirements, part of a sector regulators and government sources describe as among the more solid in the world.