Banco Azteca is a Mexican bank chain which operates in Mexico, Panama, Guatemala, Honduras, Peru and El Salvador. The company's products are consumer credit for goods, personal loans, small business loans, credit cards, mortgages and payroll systems. In March 2002, Banco Azteca was formed when

Grupo Elektra Grupo Elektra is a Mexican financial and retailing corporation established by Hugo Salinas Price. The company has operations in Latin America and is the largest non-bank provider of cash advance services in the United States. It is listed on t ...

received the required financial services licence. The bank began operating on October 30, 2002. The bank was criticized in a 2007

BusinessWeek ''Bloomberg Businessweek'', previously known as ''BusinessWeek'', is an American weekly business magazine published fifty times a year. Since 2009, the magazine is owned by New York City-based Bloomberg L.P. The magazine debuted in New York Cit ...

magazine article for abusing

microcredit :''This article is specific to small loans, often provided in a pooled manner. For direct payments to individuals for specific projects, see Micropatronage. For financial services to the poor, see Microfinance. For small payments, see Micropa ...

practices in Mexico due to lax bankruptcy, consumer protection and

interest rate An interest rate is the amount of interest due per period, as a proportion of the amount lent, deposited, or borrowed (called the principal sum). The total interest on an amount lent or borrowed depends on the principal sum, the interest rate, t ...

s laws of the country. There was a Brazilian branch named Banco Azteca do Brasil S/A, opened in 2008 and put under extrajudicial liquidation in 2016.

References

Banks established in 2002 Banks of Mexico Companies based in Mexico City Grupo Salinas {{bank-stub