With extensive experience in the payments industry and a deep understanding of the Mexican market, Juan Rial joins Evertec Mexico to lead the country’s commercial strategy at a key moment for the digitalization of financial services. We spoke with him about his vision of the local ecosystem, the opportunities for financial institutions and merchants, and the priorities that will define this new stage.
What will be your main focus as the new Commercial Head of Evertec in Mexico?
For more than five years, Mexico has been undergoing a profound process of payment digitalization and the adoption of fully digital payment methods. However, two key factors persist: a significant portion of the population remains outside the formal financial services and a high dependence on cash.
Within this context, the most important driver behind my decision to join Evertec was very clear. The company has strong pillars to support and accelerate transformation processes in the country:
- Over 20 years of experience in the payments issuance and acquiring services market in Latin America, more than 15 years of operations in Mexico, and the backing of being a publicly traded company listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
- A modular, API-first, and scalable technology platform powered by a Product and Innovation team with extensive regional expertise, capable of addressing the main challenges faced by our clients and prospects.
- For Mexico specifically, Evertec offers high-value local solutions such as BIN Sponsorship for issuers, proprietary fraud prevention tools, advanced data generation, and dashboards for program management, among others.
- In addition, we provide post-sales service, and operations are provided in Spanish and within the same time zone.
Our focus is to continue strengthening our role as enablers of our clients’ business growth and to contribute to improve people’s daily financial lives in Mexico.
What lessons from your career in the payments and technology industry do you consider most valuable for this new stage?
One of the main lessons from my local and regional experience is that there are no magic formulas. Without effort and dedication, there are no results. Additionally, knowing that we can do our part to help people access simple, secure financial services and gain better control over their daily finances gives me a profound sense or personal purpose.
With that principle as a foundation, I have taken on the challenge of leading Evertec’s business in Mexico with a clear perspective: the fundamentally social value and impact of what we do motivate us every day to help our clients scale innovative solutions with high levels of acceptance and use.
In your opinion, what are the most important challenges currently facing issuers, acquirers, and merchants in Mexico?
Mexico has historically played a leading role in payments and innovation in the region, supported by top tier technological talent and the ability to develop simple, agile, and secure solutions.
Looking ahead, one of the main challenges will be adapting to upcoming regulatory changes while maintaining competitiveness and keeping the focus on end customers and merchants. The key will be finding the right balance between innovation, security, compliance, and user experience.
What technology trends are gaining the most traction in the country?
Without a doubt, tokenization has become a key technology for strengthening security and significantly improving the payment experience, and it will continue to gain relevance. At Evertec, we already offer these kinds of solutions and have a long-term vision for them.
In this context, I believe it is important to highlight the role of artificial intelligence in everything we do and in the services we provide. Technologies such as agentic payments are beginning to emerge as a trend with high adoption potential, especially among younger generations. The possibility that an AI agent not only comparing products but also executing an optimized payment based on user preferences opens up a new scenario for the industry, and I believe it could see widespread adoption in the short term.
How does Evertec’s global experience translate into relevant solutions for the Mexican market?
Being a company with more than 20 years of experience and operations in 26 markets across Latin America and the Caribbean is a key differentiator. The region is highly diverse: each market has its own regulatory, cultural, and operational particularities.
This diversity allows us to accumulate cross-market learnings and adapt them to each local reality. Having clients from different sectors in multiple countries strengthens our role as a trusted technology partner and enables us to anticipate needs and trends with greater accuracy.
What role will artificial intelligence, automation, and digitalization play in the projects Evertec aims to promote in Mexico?
Artificial intelligence is here to stay in the payments industry. Evertec has an innovation center in Puerto Rico dedicated exclusively to this technology, where cutting-edge solutions are developed for the entire region.
We operate in an environment where technology evolves at great speed and change is constant. Our challenge is to understand where we compete and how to adapt in order to continue offering, in Mexico and across other markets, disruptive, secure, and easy-to-implement solutions.
“Our goal is to be a trusted technology partner, capable of adapting to the local reality and anticipating the needs of the payments ecosystem in Mexico, driving an increasingly digital, intelligent, and secure future for everyone.”
Juan Rial Hawila,
Commercial Head of Evertec Mexico
