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Illustration: Pete Ellis |
By Ben Edwards
Within just a few weeks of joining Banco Azteca, Alejandro Valenzuela was darting in and out of thick Mexico City traffic on the back of one of the bank’s fleet of 10,000 motorbikes to collect loan payments from his customers. As the new chief executive, and former head of Banorte, would quickly discover, Banco Azteca is not a traditional lender.
Azteca was founded in 2002 as the finance unit of Grupo Elektra – a Mexican retail chain that first opened its doors in the 1950s selling radios and televisions and pioneered the provision of in-store credit to its customers, many of whom were from lower socioeconomic backgrounds and lacked access to other banking services.
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