Travel Report: Visiting The Mexican Stock Exchange

The Bolsa Mexicana de Valores is Mexico’s main stock market, and the second largest stock exchange in Latin America.

If you’re ever in Mexico City, you can visit the exchange (and an accompanying museum about the country’s financial history) for free! I took a tour yesterday, and here are some highlights from the trip:

• The first Mexican stock exchange was organized by a woman.

A widow named Filomena Mayeu organized the first stock trading center in her bakery. Public companies at this time consisted of two breweries, two banks, a soap maker, and a textile mill.

• Mexico’s French influence is directly tied to stocks

Queretaro is a beautiful region of Mexico. It is also very French. Buildings are listed as “Maisons,” there are numerous wineries and cheese makers, and French restaurants are quite common (I recommend Bistrot Chez Julien, the food is great!).

The French influence comes from investments in Mexico’s mining sector. Many, bankers and people in France helped fund mines around the Queretaro and San Luis Potosi. France’s regional influence was also amplified later (1864 — 1866), when Napoleon III invaded an occupied the area due to the Mexican government’s default on debt interest payments.