Visitors to Mexico without a domestic bank account will be limited to cash up to US$1,500 to Mexican Pesos per month.


The Mexican Finance Ministry announced a new ban to regulate the money exchange of US Dollars to Mexico Pesos at the commercial banks. Within a transition period of 90 days starting on June 16th 2010, all the commercial banks must tag on to the following criteria:

-Individuals that hold an account will only be able to change up to US$4,000 to Mexican Pesos on cash per month.

-Non account holders, where tourists will be included, will only cash up to US$1,500 per month.

-Businesses will be able to change up to US$7,000 a month.

These restrictions will also apply to US dollar cash deposits in bank accounts, as well as bills & services payments in US Dollars cash. It is important to mention that the announced bank controls will not affect the commercial banks selling of US Dollars in cash. This ruling affects the purchases of US Dollars in cash by the commercial banks. In addition to this, all electronic transactions that involve sells and purchases of US Dollars will not be affected by this regulation.

This initiative is not supposed to affect tourist travelling to Mexico, since it is estimated that only 35% of their expenses are covered in cash. Still, the amount per month allowed to cash to Mexican Pesos (US$1,500) might not be sufficient if we consider that the tourists´ average per day expense is US$500.

The Mexican Government argument for these measures is based on the idea to combat money laundering in Mexico; a sum that is currently estimated in 10 billion US Dollars per year.