Mexico's non-bank lenders fell from darlings to default

In this REDD Talks - Cancelling the Noise episode, REDD’s Latam Managing Editor Maria Fernanda Blaser and Head of Mexico Xochitl Herrera take a deep dive into the rise and fall of Mexican non-bank lenders. Once some of the favourites of foreign investors with billions of dollars in bonds, those companies were financing the growth of their portfolios but showing very little concern to accounting requirements.

With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, accounting issues were exacerbated, and investors were then asking what was the real liquidity position of the non-bank lenders. The downfall of those companies started when Alpha Credit announced it was reinstating results of three years. Shortly after, it filed for Chapter 11 in the US and for concurso mercantil in Mexico. Alpha was followed by Credito Real, which couldn’t refinance a CHF 170m bond and then Unifin, which blamed its default on the lack of financing for the sector. Unifin and Credito Real are restructuring and this saga is still far away from ending.