Mexican Finance Ministry says it has not received evidence to support claims against CIBanco, Intercam and Vector banks.
Published On 25 Jun 2025
The United States has imposed sanctions on three Mexican banks, alleging they had been used to launder money for drug cartels.
On Wednesday, the US Department of the Treasury tied the banks – CIBanco, Intercam Banco and Vector Casa de Bolsa – to the cross-border trafficking of the deadly synthetic drug fentanyl.
It accused them of playing “a longstanding and vital role in laundering millions of dollars on behalf of Mexico-based cartels and facilitating payments for the procurement of precursor chemicals needed to produce fentanyl”.
The sanctions are part of a wider pressure campaign by the administration of US President Donald Trump against Latin American gangs, criminal networks and drug traffickers.
That campaign has included designating several groups as “foreign terrorist organisations” and using tariffs to pressure Mexico’s government to increase enforcement of irregular traffic across the border.
In a statement, the Treasury Department said the banks were the first to be targeted under new pieces of legislation – the Fentanyl Sanctions Act and the FEND Off Fentanyl Act – passed to expand its ability to target money laundering related to opioid trafficking.
The sanctions would block transfe