ABSTRACT
In 2008, the Mexican banking system processed 494.85 million cheques and made 1,278 million transactions in the 31,966 automated teller machines in the country.1 Regardless of the conditions of inclusion and access to fi nancial services available to the Mexican population, this is a functional and relatively extensive payment system. Nevertheless, it was not a system created overnight; in fact, developing this kind of infrastructure in a developing country covering two million square kilometres whose geography imposes high costs, as well as poorly developed lines of communication, required time to consolidate. The existence of this system can be explained by a cumulative process whereby, throughout the twentieth century, the main private banks developed an infrastructure platform that serves the users of fi nancial services through branches, which, from 1965 onward, have undergone a continuous process of computerization of operations.
