Grupo Bimbo SAB de CV ("Grupo Bimbo") (BMV: BIMBO) the largest Mexican baking company in the world, through its subsidiary Blue Label Mexico, a provider of technology solutions and Visa Inc (NYSE: V), a global payments technology company, announced a joint venture that will support the growth of its “mom & pop” clients. This partnership will expand the acceptance of credit and debit card payments in retail locations in the country, using the Red Qiubo, a transactional platform that already facilitates payments of services and the purchase of wireless airtime top-up.

There are more than 700,000 small retailers across Mexico carrying Grupo Bimbo’s merchandise, which requires a large distribution network for the daily delivery of baked goods. This network, combined with the trust in the Bimbo brand, creates an opportunity to support local stores to modernize and compete effectively, while using the most advanced technology in processing payments that Visa offers, as well as the value added services provided by Blue Label Mexico.

"We see ‘mom & pop’ stores as the core of the retail culture in Mexico; they are not only the social center for many communities, but also a key driver of the country’s economic growth," said Hortensia Contreras, Grupo Bimbo’s Vice President of Strategic Services and Blue Label Mexico CEO. "This innovation of enabling ‘mom & pop’ stores to accept payment cards will deepen the penetration of electronic payments, while helping to boost traffic and ultimately increase turnover at these stores."

The Qiubo Network, working with a specially trained workteam focused on the activation of small retailers, facilitates the installation of point of sale terminals since September 2013.

"The effort with Grupo Bimbo and Blue Label Mexico, in addition to the Visa processing technology, creates a potential to increase in a first phase, the number of acceptance points up to 25% in the country," said Luz Adriana Ramirez Chavez, Managing Director for Visa Mexico. "To date, there are nearly 125 million cards in Mexico which can be used in this type of stores, eliminating the inefficiency of the use of cash and carrying convenience of electronic payments to more consumers.”

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In an effort to contribute with the training of small retailers, both Visa and Grupo Bimbo will develop continuous initiatives that will help them develop their business and finances.

In the execution of the project, the national bank Banamex becomes a key ally in the acceptance of credit cards. Edgardo del Rincon, Consumer Credit Executive Director of Banamex, said: “Banamex is the acquiring bank and facilitator of the account Transfer, designed for retailers to receive the deposit of the sales generated by card payments.” Also, in the processing, Visa will work with Planet Payment, supplier of international payment processing services.