Circular 2/2013 — Modifications to Circular 3/2012

(First Section) OFFICIAL GAZETTE Friday, December 6, 2013

BANK OF MEXICO

CIRCULAR 2/2013 relating to the Modifications to Circular 3/2012.

A logo appears at the margin, stating: Bank of Mexico.

CIRCULAR 2/2013

TO CREDIT INSTITUTIONS AND THE RURAL FINANCIAL INSTITUTION:

SUBJECT: MODIFICATIONS TO CIRCULAR 3/2012

The Bank of Mexico, with the objective of promoting the sound development of the financial system, facilitating the proper functioning of payment systems, and protecting the interests of the public, considers it convenient to foster:

a) Financial inclusion, so that a larger segment of the population has access to banking services; b) Innovation in financial services, through efficient, secure, and expeditious means of disposition and payment that make use of technology developed for such purposes; c) Competition among providers of banking products; and d) The reduction of costs by promoting access under more equitable conditions for different participants.

For the above reason, based on Articles 28, sixth and seventh paragraphs of the Political Constitution of the United Mexican States; 24 and 26 of the Bank of Mexico Law; 16 and 22 of the Law for Transparency and Ordering of Financial Services; 48 of the Credit Institutions Law; 4th, first paragraph, 8th, fourth and seventh paragraphs, 10, first paragraph, 14 Bis in relation with 17, fraction I, 14 Bis 1 in relation with 25 Bis 1, fraction IV and 25 Bis 2, fraction II and 15 in relation with 20, fraction XI, of the Internal Regulations of the Bank of Mexico, which grant it the authority to issue provisions through the General Legal Directorate, the General Directorate of Affairs of the Financial System, and the General Directorate of Payment Systems and Corporate Services, respectively, as well as the Second of the Agreement on the Assignment of Administrative Units of the Bank of Mexico, fractions I, VIII and X; it has resolved to modify Article 17, as well as add Annexes 24, 25 and 26, all of this regarding the “Provisions applicable to the operations of Credit Institutions and the Rural Financial Institution”, contained in Circular 3/2012, to remain in the following terms:

PROVISIONS APPLICABLE TO THE OPERATIONS OF CREDIT INSTITUTIONS AND THE RURAL FINANCIAL INSTITUTION

“Electronic Fund Transfers

Article 17. Institutions shall be obligated to receive and process electronic fund transfers directed to them by those interbank payment systems in which they participate. Likewise, Institutions must accept such electronic fund transfer orders that meet the requirements established for such purposes by the corresponding payment system and must credit, under the applicable terms, the respective resources to the accounts of beneficiaries or recipients that such Institutions maintain.

Without prejudice to the foregoing, Institutions may, when so determined, offer to holders of level 2, 3 or 4 accounts that they maintain open, the execution of electronic fund transfer operations that such holders instruct against the respective accounts. For the execution of the aforementioned operations, Institutions may allow such account holders to transmit the respective instructions through the equipment, means, systems, and telecommunications networks that such Institutions determine in terms of the applicable provisions. In turn, only those Institutions that are participants in the SPEI in terms of the applicable provisions may offer to their clients the transmission of respective instructions through mobile devices, regardless of the communication channel used by the device to transmit the instruction.

In the cases referred to in the two preceding paragraphs, Institutions must carry out the respective operations under the following terms and conditions:

I. (A) Institutions must assign a CLABE to each level 2, 3, and 4 account that they maintain open, as well as identify them with the sixteen reference digits of the corresponding valid debit cards issued for such accounts, if any;

I. (B) Regarding level 1 accounts, Institutions must identify them with the sixteen reference digits of the respective valid debit cards and, if so determined, may also identify them with the corresponding CLABEs;

I. (C) Without prejudice to what is provided in fractions I. (A) and I. (B) and subject to the terms and exceptions indicated below, the Institution that maintains open accounts of levels 2, 3, or 4 must, at the request of the holder of the account in question, associate with it the last ten digits of the number of a mobile phone line that the holder indicates, for the purpose of receiving, by crediting said account, electronic fund transfers executed in terms of this article. Likewise, Institutions that maintain open level 1 accounts may, if so determined, offer their clients, for the aforementioned purpose, the association of said mobile phone line digits to such accounts as indicated by the respective holders.

For the purposes of the provisions in the preceding paragraph, Institutions must:

(i) Associate the last ten digits of the number of a mobile phone line only to the account that the respective holder indicates among all those that the Institution in question maintains open in the name of the same holder, in order to credit to that single account the resources derived from electronic fund transfer orders that indicate said ten digits to identify it. Likewise, solely for the purposes of receiving electronic fund transfers, a single Institution may only associate the last ten digits of a specific mobile phone line to only one of the accounts it maintains open for all its clients.

Without prejudice to the above in this subsection, each Institution, if so decided, may offer its clients the service of sending, to the same mobile phone line, notifications, balances, movements, or alerts, related to their other accounts.

(ii) Associate said mobile phone line digits to the accounts proceeding in terms of this article, as well as disassociate or change the previously associated digits, based on the requests that the respective holders present in terms of this article, within a period not greater than one Banking Business Day following the receipt of the request in question.

As an exception to the provisions in the preceding paragraph, the Institution that maintains open an account to which it has associated the last ten digits of a mobile phone line number and that subsequently receives a request to associate the digits of that same number to another account of another holder, without having received the corresponding disassociation request from the holder of the previously associated account, must refrain from carrying out the association of said digits to the account indicated in said request, unless the Institution follows the procedures indicated by the National Banking and Securities Commission to validate the validity of the new association request.

(iii) Receive the requests referred to in subsection (ii) above in their branches or through agents who have agreed to carry out this activity. Likewise, Institutions may, when so determined, allow such requests to be presented verbally or by data messages, including those sent by mobile devices or through electronic banking services offered via the Internet. In all these cases, the receipt of such requests must be carried out, at least, during the public service hours in branches. Institutions must allow the disassociation or change of mobile phone line digits in the same manner and terms in which they allow association, and in any case, must allow the respective account holders to present their respective disassociation requests in their branches or, where applicable, through authorized agents.

Regarding requests that Institutions receive in branches and, where applicable, agents, they must ensure that formats are used that contain at least the information included in Annexes 24, 25, and 26. On the other hand, the information of Annex 24 may be included in the corresponding account opening contracts. Regarding requests that Institutions allow their clients to present through Internet portals, these must include the same information as that provided in the respective formats.

For requests that Institutions allow their clients to present by means of mobile devices, such Institutions must ensure that they are carried out by means of the device whose mobile phone line number is requested to be associated, disassociated, or replaced by another. Additionally, for the requests referred to in this paragraph to be considered valid, Institutions must ensure that the terms in which they are carried out contemplate the same information as that included in the corresponding annexes cited in the previous paragraph and that the client expressly confirms that they were made aware of the information included in said annexes.

Institutions must refrain from including in the request formats, referred to in the two preceding paragraphs, requirements that inhibit, condition, or hinder the client from contracting or using the service.

Institutions may allow the presentation of the requests referred to in this subsection by means of mobile devices or Internet portals, subject to the condition that, to receive such requests, they follow the procedures in the same terms as those provided in the provisions of the National Banking and Securities Commission for the contracting of mobile banking services related to the respective accounts, as well as those procedures authorized by said Commission for the identification and authentication of their clients that they are obliged to follow in accordance with said provisions.

(iv) Keep a written or electronic record of the requests to associate the digits of mobile phone line numbers, as well as the respective disassociation or change, and issue a receipt with at least a confirmation key or folio number assigned by the Institution in question to identify the request and the date of receipt, in terms of the provisions of the National Banking and Securities Commission that are applicable.

(v) Inform the holders of the accounts to which they request to associate mobile phone line numbers, in terms of this fraction, the last three digits of the number of the key of the participant registered in the SPEI catalog, as well as the denominations that, to identify the Institution itself, are registered by the Bank of Mexico in the catalog of identifiers of financial entities receiving electronic fund transfers originated by mobile devices, in accordance with the respective operation manual that, for this effect, the Bank of Mexico issues.

Likewise, each Institution that associates mobile phone line numbers to its clients' accounts at their request, must inform them that, in order for such Institution to receive, for the corresponding credit to the aforementioned accounts, electronic transfer orders that indicate the last ten digits of mobile phone line numbers to identify those accounts, such orders, at the time they are instructed by the originators, must include, at the end of the ten digits of the corresponding mobile phone line number, those three digits of identification of the Institution itself that it informs in terms of the preceding paragraph or, where applicable, any of the denominations that identify said Institution in accordance with what is provided in this subsection.

(vi) In accordance with what is established in the operation manual for administering the catalog of identifiers of financial entities benefiting from transfers through mobile devices referred to in the previous fraction, request the Bank of Mexico to carry out the registration in said catalog of the denominations that Institutions decide to assign to themselves, as well as to also register the last three digits of the number of the key of the participant in the SPEI catalog, in order for said denominations and digits to be used to identify them as receivers of the aforementioned transfers.

(vii) Notify their clients of the association of the respective accounts to the ten digits of mobile phone line numbers that have been carried out, as well as of the disassociation or change that have been performed. Such notices must be sent as data messages transmitted to the same mobile phone numbers that have been associated or by the same communication means used with the data that the holder himself has provided to receive notifications on transfers of monetary resources to third-party accounts carried out through electronic banking services, in accordance with the general provisions issued by the National Banking and Securities Commission.

Regarding the disassociation or change of digits of mobile phone line numbers referred to in the preceding paragraph, the Institution that administers the respective account must give notice to the account holder in question on the same day that such disassociation or change is carried out and must indicate that, within a period not greater than one banking business day, all electronic fund transfers that indicate said digits will be rejected and that, if those same digits are subsequently associated with another account, the other electronic fund transfers that indicate such digits will be credited to that other account.

I. (D) In terms of the first paragraph of this article, Institutions must carry out the acceptance of electronic fund transfer orders and the credit to the accounts of beneficiaries that such Institutions maintain open, regarding those orders that, in addition to meeting the requirements established for such purposes by the respective interbank payment systems that direct them, identify the corresponding beneficiary account solely with the assigned CLABE, the sixteen digits of the debit card with which, if any, they have identified said account, or the last ten digits of the mobile phone line number that, if any, are associated with said account.

I. (E) Regarding those accounts for which they have agreed with the corresponding holders to execute the instructions of electronic fund transfers that they transmit to them through equipment other than mobile devices, Institutions must allow such instructions, at the choice of the respective holder, to identify the beneficiary account with the assigned CLABE or, with the sixteen identification digits of the corresponding debit card or, where applicable, with the last ten digits of the mobile phone line associated with that account plus the three digits or any of the identification denominations of the receiving Institution referred to in fraction I. (C), subsection (v), above.

Regarding those accounts with respect to which Institutions have agreed with the respective holders to execute the instructions of electronic fund transfers that such holders transmit to them through a mobile device, Institutions shall be obligated to allow each holder, regardless of the Institution that holds the beneficiary's account, to specify solely the amount to be transferred and the last ten digits of the mobile phone line associated with the beneficiary's account that corresponds, as well as the last three digits of the number of the key of the participant in the SPEI catalog or any of the identification denominations of the Institution that holds the beneficiary's account referred to in fraction I. (C), subsection (v), above.

In the cases referred to in this paragraph, the proper execution of the instructions for electronic fund transfers shall be subject to the condition that Institutions comply with the controls required by the general provisions of the National Banking and Securities Commission.

Without prejudice to what is stated in this fraction, Institutions may, if so determined, offer to the holders of the accounts that they maintain open that, in the instructions referred to in the immediate preceding paragraph, they indicate, at the choice of said holders, the beneficiary account with the CLABE assigned to said account, with the sixteen identification digits of the corresponding debit card or with some other data or specific names that the Institution in question has allowed the holder to assign for the purposes of identifying said account.

As part of what is provided in the two preceding paragraphs, in the information and communication technology applications that Institutions make available to their clients for the preparation and transmission of instructions for electronic fund transfers, these may enable interfaces that allow users to select the denomination that, in accordance with fraction I. (C), subsection (v), identifies the receiving Institution of the respective transfer.

With regard to the procedures for receiving instructions for electronic fund transfers from their clients through mobile devices, Institutions must not differentiate such procedures if the respective beneficiary accounts are held by the Institution itself or other Institutions.

I. (F) Regarding each instruction for electronic fund transfer that identifies the beneficiary's account with the last ten digits of the number of a mobile phone line and includes at the end the three additional digits or any of the identification denominations of the Institution receiving said transfer, in accordance with fraction I. (C), subsection (v), of this article, the Institution that receives that instruction from the client with whom it has contracted the provision of this service must follow the following procedure:

(i) If the referred three digits or identification denomination of the receiving Institution correspond to the same Institution processing the referred instruction from its client, it must carry out the corresponding charge and credit to the respective accounts.

(ii) If the referred three digits or identification denomination of the receiving Institution of the transfer correspond to an Institution distinct from the one processing the instruction from its client, in addition to the respective electronic fund transfer corresponding to a transfer through mobile devices, in terms of the “Rules for the organization, functioning, and operation of clearing houses for transfers through mobile devices” issued by the Bank of Mexico, and both Institutions participate in the same clearing house of that type, the Institution processing the instruction may do so in the terms agreed with said clearing house and, if it does not process said instruction with that clearing house, it must process it in the terms of the following subsection.

(iii) If the referred three digits or identification denomination of the receiving Institution of the transfer correspond to an Institution distinct from the one processing the instruction and the respective electronic fund transfer does not correspond to a transfer through mobile devices or, if said transfer does correspond to one through mobile devices without any of said Institutions participating in the same clearing house of that type, the Institution receiving the instruction from its client, directly or through an agent with whom it has agreed to carry out these operations, must process said instruction through the SPEI in accordance with what is provided in the provisions applicable to said payment system, as well as in the corresponding operation manual.

In the event that an electronic fund transfer has not been able to be credited to the beneficiary's account, as a result of its return by the clearing house for transfers through mobile devices or by the SPEI, the Institution that has processed the respective order must credit the corresponding resources to the account of the holder who issued the instruction for said transfer, on the same day that it is notified or verifies said return, as the case may be.

II. Institutions that accept orders for electronic fund transfers that identify the accounts of the respective beneficiaries with the last ten digits of the numbers of mobile phone lines must notify the holders of the accounts in question about the credits that they carry out in said accounts, by the means agreed for this effect or, in the absence thereof, through the account statement.

Friday, December 6, 2013 OFFICIAL GAZETTE (First Section)

Each Institution shall make the notification indicated in this subsection under the same conditions, terms, deadlines, and within the same timeframes as those applicable to electronic fund transfers made between accounts opened with the Institution itself.

III. (A) Institutions shall allow account holders administered by them to include, in the electronic fund transfer instructions that the Institutions themselves have offered to execute, the information that the holders deem pertinent to add in the fields that, for this purpose, must be established in accordance with the operation manuals of the respective payment system.

In the case of transfers through mobile devices, Institutions shall allow the extension of such information to reach up to 40 characters for the payment concept. The provisions of this subsection shall not apply to electronic fund transfers that use proximity communication technology.

III. (B) Institutions shall send the information referred to in the preceding subsection as part of the electronic fund transfer orders that they transmit to other Institutions, and, regarding that information included in the orders received by the Institutions themselves, these shall make it available to the holders of the respective receiving accounts.

III. (C) Institutions shall refrain from charging commissions:

(i) To their clients, for the incorporation and sending of the information referred to in subsection III. (A) above, without prejudice to the commissions they charge to said clients for the processing and execution of the electronic fund transfers they send.

(ii) To their clients, regarding the execution of electronic fund transfer instructions, transmitted through mobile devices, whose last ten digits of their mobile phone line numbers are associated with their Checking Deposit accounts for amounts greater than the commissions they charge for the execution of said transfers between accounts opened in the same Institution, without prejudice to the fact that they may add to the corresponding amount the equivalent of the fee that SPEI or other concepts would charge at the time of registering the commission before Banco de México for carrying out such execution.

(iii) Between the Institutions themselves, for the sending, receiving, return, or execution of electronic fund transfer orders that are transmitted, except for Direct Debits.

III. (D) For the receipt of electronic fund transfers derived from orders that identify the accounts of the respective beneficiaries with the last ten digits of the mobile phone line numbers referred to in this article, as well as for the processing of electronic fund transfer instructions transmitted by mobile devices, Institutions shall refrain from conditioning the performance of said operations on the respective ten digits of the mobile phone line number corresponding to a specific telecommunications service provider or excluding any of said providers.

Likewise, in the event that, for the processing of electronic fund transfer instructions that clients transmit or for the receipt of such transfers derived from said processing, Institutions condition the transmission of data messages related to these operations through a specific data transmission modality that generates an additional cost or commission to the user of the phone line in question for the performance of the referred operations, Institutions shall inform the client about the charge that the telecommunications service provider could make for the sending of information.

IV. Make available to the public, through the portal they maintain on the Internet, a simple guide on the procedures, terms, and conditions applicable to the electronic fund transfer and Direct Debit services they offer between accounts opened in the same Institution or interbank, as well as send by email or deliver free of charge a printed copy of said guide to clients who request it in their branches.

(FIRST SECTION) OFFICIAL GAZETTE Friday, December 6, 2013

"ANNEX 24 Format for request to associate a mobile phone number to a checking deposit account ___ of ___________ of 20___ (NAME OF THE CREDIT INSTITUTION) I request that this bank associate account number ______, which it maintains open in my name, with the mobile phone line with number _________ (last ten digits), so that it can credit to said account the resources derived from electronic fund transfers received with the identification of said mobile phone number. I am aware that this request will take effect within a period not exceeding one banking business day counted from the date of presentation and that this bank must, in accordance with the request I present in terms of the applicable provisions, dissociate the referred mobile phone number or carry out the change of this, at no cost to me. Likewise, I have been informed by this bank that it is my responsibility to cancel the number associated with my account when I stop using the corresponding mobile phone line. Sincerely,

---

(NAME, DENOMINATION OR BUSINESS NAME OF THE ACCOUNT HOLDER)"

Friday, December 6, 2013 OFFICIAL GAZETTE (First Section) "ANNEX 25 Format for request to dissociate a mobile phone number from a checking deposit account ___ of ___________ of 20___. (NAME OF THE CREDIT INSTITUTION) I request that this bank dissociate the mobile phone line with number __________ (last ten digits) from account number ________, so that it stops receiving electronic fund transfers that indicate said mobile phone number. I am aware that the dissociation of the mobile phone number I request is at no cost to me and that it will take effect within a period not exceeding one banking business day counted from the date of presentation of this request. Likewise, I recognize that from the day the dissociation I request takes effect, all electronic fund transfers that indicate the mobile phone line digits referred to will cease to be credited to said account. Sincerely,

---

(NAME, DENOMINATION OR BUSINESS NAME OF THE ACCOUNT HOLDER)"

(FIRST SECTION) OFFICIAL GAZETTE Friday, December 6, 2013 "ANNEX 26 Format for request to change mobile phone number Associated with a checking deposit account ___ of ___________ of 20___. (NAME OF THE CREDIT INSTITUTION) I request that this bank dissociate the mobile phone line number _______ (last ten digits) from account number _______ and that, in turn, said account be associated with the mobile phone line number _______ (last ten digits) so that this bank can credit to said account the resources derived from electronic fund transfers that indicate this last mobile phone number. I am aware that the change of mobile phone number I request is at no cost to me and that it will take effect within a period not exceeding one banking business day counted from the date of presentation of this request. Likewise, I have been informed by the credit institution that it is my responsibility to cancel the number associated with my account when I stop using the corresponding mobile phone line. Likewise, I recognize that from the day the change I request takes effect, all electronic fund transfers that indicate the previous mobile phone line digits I request to change will cease to be credited to said account. Sincerely,

---

(NAME, DENOMINATION OR BUSINESS NAME OF THE ACCOUNT HOLDER)"

TRANSITIONAL UNIQUE. This Circular shall enter into force on May 2, 2014. Mexico, D.F., December 4, 2013.- BANCO DE MÉXICO: The General Director of Payment Systems and Corporate Services, Lorenza Martínez Trigueros.- Rubric.- The General Director of Financial System Affairs, Jesús Alan Elizondo Flores.- Rubric.- The General Legal Director, Luis Urrutia Corral.- Rubric. For any queries regarding the content of this Circular, please contact the Department of Authorizations, Consultations and Legal Control, at the phones (55) 5237-2308, (55) 5237-2317 or (55) 5237-2000 Ext. 3200.