A mobile payment platform operated by Mexico’s central bank is due to enter the pilot phase in March, Reuters reported, as the country’s authorities press on with plans to slash the cost of financial services access.

The final specifications for the platform, named CoDi, were put out to public consultation by Banco de Mexico in late December 2018. When fully launched, the system will provide real-time payments to and from mobile phones without the need for users to have a bank account.

CoDi is part of a wider pledge by the country’s new administration to increase financial inclusion, made in the aftermath of the Institutional Revolutionary Party’s 2018 presidential election win.

In a translated statement from the public consultation, Banco de Mexico said the CoDi system would: “Act as a viable alternative to payment services from electronic devices currently on the market, as well as the use of cash.

“The implementation of the CoDi platform will open the possibility of accessing the electronic payment services…to all holders of mobile devices in the country, promoting financial inclusion, increasing use of electronic payment and the promotion of competition in the payment market.”

Mexico remains a cash-heavy economy. World Bank’s Global Findex database showed 37 per cent of the country’s population aged over 15-years had a bank account in 2017, a figure which had fallen from the proportion reported in its previous study from 2014.