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Business News | October 2007
Volkswagen to Launch Bank in Mexico Associated Press go to original
Mexico City - German automaker Volkswagen AG said this week it plans to launch what it is calling the first bank in Mexico with no physical branches.
Volkswagen Bank SA will offer deposit accounts, financing and investment portfolios without charging commissions, executives said. Volkswagen Bank - a unit of Volkswagen Financial Services AG, the automaker's financial arm - already operates in 27 countries, mainly in Europe.
The bank will have representatives at VW's network of dealerships in Mexico but will initially perform all transactions by phone. After this first phase, customers will be able to use the Internet for banking operations.
"The costs saved on operating conventional banking locations will be passed directly on to the customers," Reinhard Mathieu, general director of the bank in Mexico, said in a news release.
Mexico's Treasury Department approved Volkswagen Bank's banking license this week, and the company said it plans to launch banking operations in Mexico in the coming months, after it receives a final nod from the National Banking and Securities Commission.
It expects to have nearly 94,000 clients by the end of 2008. Volkswagen Bank will start with an initial capital of 409.4 million pesos ($38 million) and will absorb most of the company's current leasing customers.
Volkswagen has a manufacturing plant in the Mexican city of Puebla. According to statistics from the Mexico's automobile association, the company sold 95,819 vehicles in Mexico during the first nine months of this year, behind General Motors Corp. and Nissan Motor Co. |
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