Our services are based on innovation and the creation of a custom-tailored suit for the requirements of the different companies. We design a personalized strategy for each kind of customer and we adapt to its sector and its timing, being careful not to generalize the profile of our solutions..

During the last 3 years, Freeman has detected that mid-sized companies are the ones that display a higher growth rate, and the ones that have more financing needs. Because of these facts, we have decided to focus our financial solutions and strategies in the development of financing, capital input and loan granting for all mid-sized companies of the country.

This strategy adds to our financing model for big companies and corporations, which is nowadays one of the most attractive and competitive within the Mexican banking system, due to our business financial innovation model.

If your company is experiencing times of innovation, growth, development and a marked revolution to become one of the most relevant and avant garde companies of our time, Freeman has the financing that you need to achieve it.

Current outlook of financial corporations

To think about and understand the current scenario of Financial Corporations in the country, and understand their prominent role in the development of business and the country, it is necessary to go in depth and get to know what is happening in the global financial sector.

Mexico has become one of the 20 safest countries in the world to invest in the development of business and world capital input center. Such investment is created by FDI (globally known as Foreign Direct Investment) and by LDI (Local Direct Investment).

In a research work performed on May 11 of this year by El Financiero newspaper, FDI and LDI translate into more jobs, creation of productive capacity and, in most cases, development of human capital. It may have an impact on the improvement of cities and regions where it settles and, without doubt, causes economic flow.

Since the financial crisis of 2008, FDI flows slowed down and have been switching destinations. A.T. Kearney recently published its FDI Confidence Index for 2016, shoeing the corporations' interest in investing in other countries. It is an index that has been published for nearly two decades and allows us to watch the trends indicated by the behavior of global economy.

There have been years when investors decide to focus on emerging economies and terms when they prefer to take their resources to developed economies. 2016 belongs to the latter. From the 25 more mentioned economies to receive FDI, 75 per cent are industrialized. The remaining are emerging, but of those India is the one that is catching most attention. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's economic policies took India to a growth rate of 7.5 percent during 2015 and, if these trends materialize, India will be one of the main receivers of those investments.

We have all heard about the obstacles that emerging economies are facing. Low oil and commodities prices, plus a diminishing demand from China, shed a shadow on the outlook of these countries. Corruption scandals, debt increases and, in some cases, their leaders' populism contribute to an unfavorable perspective.

For the fourth year, the United States heads the index, followed by China.

It is a confidence index, it looks towards the future. Thirteen European countries are present. Although the United Kingdom is on the higher portion of the table, it suffered a light descent. The risk of leaving the European Union diminishes the attractiveness of this economy for investors, who will cease to see it as an entrance to the European market. The risks that the United States would face in case a populist candidate wins its presidential election are also mentioned.

Asia is still the biggest receiver of FDI, while only two Latin American countries appear among the 25 most important: Brazil and Mexico. Both descended some levels, Brazil six and Mexico nine, although Brazil is positioned in the twelfth place while Mexico is number 18. Mexico was the one that descended more levels within the index.

That Brazil lost six places in the ranking may not come as a surprise. Its economy has been diving for years, accusations of data manipulation on public accounts by the president and corruption scandals of a significant portion of the political class (of the 65 members of the commission investigating the president, 37 are accused of corruption) may be an explanation.

Mexico is growing. In 2015 it grew 2.5 percent and the estimate for the first quarter is 2.9 percent. Consumption is experiencing an important impulse and is the main drive of our economy. In the survey, 18 per cent of investors is more pessimist as compared with last year about the country, but 22 per cent believes that the country will have a good performance during the next three years.

As the first Latin American economy, we enjoy a great financial moment; we know that there is more money than ever in the world, however, it is concentrated in less than 1% of the population and it is growingly difficult to gain access to business financing or capital.

We are competitive at the global level for FDI, and LDI is growing year after year. Despite these positive data about the Mexican economy, something is lacking since we are not able to catch those investment flows.

International banks and, therefore, national banks are not lending money to all companies and neither to all people. A few banks are placing business capital, and they do it in lower quantities and less frequently. Most amounts are granted to individuals for family, mortgage and car loans, among others. This is the result of a traditional banking vision where the main business model are service commissions.

Current and discussion affairs

Financial Trends

Forbes
May 2016

Mexico returns to the top 10 nations to invest in

A study by the firm PwC highlighted Mexico's return to the top 10, after two years of staying among the first 20 nations in the world.

After two years, out of the 10 best nations to invest in, Mexico returned to the first places due to factors such as productivity, indicated PwC.

La consultora considera que México es un país atractivo por ser competitivo en el costo de su capital humano y por tener niveles de productividad por arriba de los globales en cuanto a puestos gerenciales y directivos.

The firm considers that Mexico is an attractive country due to its competitiveness in the cost of human capital and to higher productivity levels of mid and top management, as compared with global levels.

In its Annual Global CEO Survey, the surveyed business people indicated that a risk factor for the country is the instability of the exchange rate. On May 9, the peso depreciated 1.77% or 31.5 cents, reaching around 18.18 pesos per dollar.

According to the study, 68% of corporations in the nation are considering an increase in their workforce, which is higher than the United States and Canada.

New business opportunities in Mexico is a situation that drove Mexico to the top 10, stated PwC.

The firm indicated that the survey was performed in 83 countries on 1,409 general managers in the world. PwC interviewed 111 in Mexico.

Corporations' general managers that seek to invest in Mexico see with confidence the expected growth of the country for this year. The Ministry of Finance and Public Credit foresees a growth between 2.6 and 3.6% for this year.

An important factor for Mexico's growth is the arrival of new investments. The American Chamber of Commerce Mexico foresees that Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Mexico will fluctuate between 25,000 and 35,000 million dollars for 2016.

With respect to global risks, 74% of the respondents indicated that one of their main worries is geopolitical uncertainty.

"This comes at a time when terrorist attacks are increasing, many of them linked to the big conflict in Iraq and Syria", stated the firm.

Another fact worrying general managers is information technologies security, since 61% of the respondents indicated that cybernetic attacks are a threat against countries.

The decision of monetary policy adopted by the Federal Reserve of the United States is also a risk factor, considered 71% of the respondents. Below, the 10 best countries in the world to invest in, according to PwC.

1. United States
2. China
3. Germany
4. United Kingdom
5. India
6. Brazil
7. Japan
8. Russia
9. Mexico
10. United Arab Emirates

High Level

May 2016

7 characteristics that banks will display in 2020

Banks will be advisers, transactions will no longer be in cash and branch offices will be totally different from the ones we see today. We tell you about the changes that bankers foresee.

"Renew or die", this is the challenge facing the financial industry. This is because, during the last few years, the digital revolution and technology, with its thousands of solutions, has placed it against the wall.

The revolution will not stop and, according to a study called "Retail Banking", written worldwide by Temenos and The Economist Intelligence, competition against them will be even more fierce, with systems like Apple Pay stealing market share, corporations that are not precisely financial will take over the business, or startups such as Fintech, offering simple and accessible solutions.

What shall banks do to avoid falling? Transform as soon as possible, states Enrique O'Reilly, Temenos General Manger for the Americas. "Things are about to change drastically for banks, and the unanimous consensus is that their function will cease to be the one we know and their branch offices will no longer perform the normal teller activities, payment reception, check cashing and the other things to which we are accustomed today", explains O'Reilly in an interview with Alto Nivel.

Banking leaders themselves know that this will happen and admit that there are no options. According to this research, 49% of them is now conscious that their traditional model is about to expire.

O'Reilly envisions seven transformations the banks will undergo before 2020, like a Phoenix. Below, we share each one of them with you.

1.- Adviser banks. According to the specialist, banks will assume a new role focused mainly on the subject of financial advice and consulting, through which they will seek to sell their services to people. With this move, their goal will be to reach people and deliver solutions tailored to their needs, leaving slightly aside transactions, which will no longer be their priority.

2.- 100% personalized applications. Very close to the previous item, financial institutions will work to deliver personalized applications through which the user may have at hand all information he or she requires, in his or her mobile devices, regardless of the day or hour. 34% of banks have as priority the subject of consumer segmentation.s

3.- New branch office style. This transformation process will bring a profound change in bank branch offices, which will no longer be as we know them. Agents will be dedicated only to consulting and all cash transactions will be automated; 64% of banks admit to be already working to turn this trend into reality.

4.- Good bye cash. The change that O'Reilly envisions for branch offices will also be driven by the fact that most of the transactions will no longer be made in cash but most payments will be made through smartphone or computer, and not precisely through the bank. 54% of bank executives agree that in the future cash will only account for 5% of all daily transactions.

5.- Fintech, strategic partner. Even though many banks see startups like Fintech as challenging, Temenos executive foresees that in the future both will be partners, and the technology firms will support the giants with their digital transactions. The study issued by The Economist Intelligence Unit indicates that 57% of bankers considers that most online payments will be supported by this type of companies.

6.- Total competition. By 2020, the specialist envisions an open was in the financial industry, since the banks will no longer be a monopoly as they need to face all kinds of alternatives. 20% of bank executives consider that their major competition will be systems like Apple Pay, another 20% believes that those will be companies that will assume control over their financial operations and 16% states that their challenge will be the appearance of new digital banks.

7.- Requesting services from the cell phone. Finally, another action that we will see materializing briefly is the possibility to perform any kind of request to banks from the cell phone, including biometric data for authentication. It is important to indicate that all this digitalization of services will allow a significant reduction of the costs that the banks usually transfer to their customers, something that 53% of people like and would not care to lose human contact.