WASHINGTON — Credit unions have long noted that all the upstart financial technology (fintech) companies that have become rivals largely remain unregulated.
But fintechs now find themselves being brought into talks to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), with a representative from Mexico saying the discussion of NAFTA must also include fintechs.
The 23-year-old NAFTA, which includes Mexico, Canada and the United States, is being renegotiated by the Trump Administration. President Trump has called the agreement a bad deal for the U.S.
Vanessa Rubio, an undersecretary at Mexico's finance ministry who is taking part in the NAFTA negotiations that began in Washington on Wednesday, said discussions on financial services had found common ground between the three countries, according to Reuters.
"We are not yet sure what will end up in the text of the new agreement, but we are sure that we need to have a discussion about new services, above all about the fintech industry," Rubio told Reuters.
Rubio said her U.S. counterparts were focused on transparency in new regulations, while she pushed the need to standardize rules.
E-commerce companies largely did not exist when NAFTA was originally written.