Mexico’s Banks Handed Out Millions of Cards That Nobody Wants

When Uber launched in Mexico 13 years ago, it ran into an unexpected problem.

Plenty of people had smartphones to download the app, but few would pay with a bank card: they either didn’t have one or didn’t want to use it.

Within a few years, the ride-hailing giant rolled out a cash option, and that’s still how more than half of its riders in the country pay.

That statistic reflects a broader pattern: in Mexico, a surge in the variety of financial products on offer has been met with a stubborn reliance on banknotes and coins. In many ways, ...