Farmacias Similares and Stori Launch Card to Include Millions

Farmacias Similares and Stori launch card to include millions

Visiting a doctor, purchasing medicines, and paying for them on time is a routine that represents a considerable financial effort for millions of Mexicans. It is from this daily tension between health and finances that Farmacias Similares and Stori fintech have built an alliance that combines both worlds: a credit card featuring Dr. Simi, designed for frequent medicine buyers and, above all, for those who have never had a card. While the announcement can be seen as another commercial play, it is part of a much broader trend: the rise of co-branded cards as an entry point to formal credit in Mexico.

Health and Credit, an Alliance Designed for Those Without a History

The product was launched on July 13th and offers cardholders a 25% discount on their first purchase and a monthly rebate of up to 10% on acquisitions made at Farmacias Similares’ physical and online stores. According to Stori’s official information, the card also includes 2% cashback on other purchases, $0 annual fee, and up to 50 days to pay without incurring interest. Marlene Garayzar, co-founder of Stori, explained that the alliance’s objective goes beyond selling a financial product: “We want to break down the barriers that separate Mexicans from credit and demonstrate that money can be on the side of the most important thing we have, which is health.” This statement is significant considering the pharmaceutical chain’s reach, operating over 11,000 stores nationwide – an infrastructure that no other co-branded alliance in Mexico can easily replicate.

Card Designed for Individuals Without a Credit History

The product is built on the architecture of Stori Green, the fintech’s base card specifically designed for individuals without a credit history or with limited access to traditional banking. This explains why, rather than solely targeting frequent Farmacias Similares customers, the product aims to attract those seeking their first card to start building their credit history. The logic behind this strategy was summarized by the company itself years ago, when its co-founder stated that the goal was to “say yes to the vast majority” of applicants rejected by traditional banking due to lack of history or income verification. Like any credit product, the card has conditions that are worth reviewing before applying. The base product’s information brochure reports an average Annual Total Cost (CAT) of 204.6% and an annual interest rate of 115.9%. These figures indicate that, although there is no annual fee, financing purchases over several months can be costly if the total balance is not paid off each period. In this sense, it serves as an entry product into the financial system rather than a savings tool; it helps build credit history, not necessarily maximize benefits.

The Rise of Co-Branded Cards in Mexico

The move by Stori and Farmacias Similares is not happening in isolation. The credit card market in Mexico continues to grow, driven precisely by “unconventional alliances” between fintechs, digital banks, and mass-market brands. This collaboration reinforces a strategy that Stori itself had previously tested with themed cards linked to sports and mobility. However, the agreement with Farmacias Similares stands out for its potential national penetration, given the chain’s massive presence across the country. This phenomenon, however, is not exclusive to Stori. Banorte partnered with Rappi to launch RappiCard in 2020, a product that accumulated 5 billion pesos in credit portfolio before the bank decided to purchase 100% of the business for 50 million dollars. INVEX Banco, on its part, has built an entire portfolio of co-branded cards with Volaris, Walmart, Amazon, and IKEA, recently adding the first Hilton Honors card issued in Latin America. Meanwhile, Walmart and Sam’s Club signed a similar alliance with that same bank and Mastercard.

The Rise of Co-Branded Cards in Mexico

Openbank México joined the list with a joint card with Cinépolis, and Stori itself extended the model to SHEIN. The contrast is clear when looking at the regional scale: according to the Nilson Report, globally co-branded cards in circulation in Latin America and the Caribbean generated $1.771 trillion (USD) in purchase volume during 2025, with a 16.5% growth compared to the previous year. In this context, Mexico remains a market with room for growth: according to a Mastercard study, only 53% of the Mexican population has a credit card, compared to 75% in Brazil and 73% in Argentina. These alliances largely aim to bridge that gap.

The Gateway to the Formal Financial System

The growth of co-branded cards coincides with measurable advances in financial inclusion. The National Survey of Financial Inclusion (ENIF) 2024 revealed that 8 out of 10 people in Mexico now have at least one financial product, an increase of 8.1 percentage points since 2015. However, cultural resistances persist: 38.4% of respondents stated they did not want to incur debt, a percentage that even increased from the 34.4% recorded in 2021. This data indicates that the challenge is not solely in supply – there are increasingly more cards available – but also in perception: a significant portion of the population continues to view credit with distrust. This is where department store cards have historically played the role of a “first key” to the formal financial system for millions of Mexicans, and where fintech-retail alliances now seek to take the lead. The retail sector itself has become a financial player in its own right: Walmart, with its Cashi platform, and Oxxo, with Spin, have collectively “banked” 25.4 million Mexicans, an increase of 124.3% since 2021. Farmacias del Ahorro is following the same path with its Cuenta Monedero product, suggesting that the entire pharmaceutical sector, not just Farmacias Similares, is looking towards financial services as a natural extension of its business.

Growth with Fine Print

Optimism about financial inclusion, however, must be tempered with a more critical reading of the market’s current phase. As a recent analysis of the sector by El Universal warns, Mexico “is entering a new phase of the card business,” where growth no longer comes from traditional segments but from new credit users driven by digital models, which implies assuming more risk. The same analysis concludes that issuing millions of cards without sophisticated risk management can deteriorate profitability faster than it took to build it. This risk translates directly in the case of the Simi-Stori card: its financial cost, with a CAT exceeding 200%, is considerably higher than that of a traditional bank card, and its primary benefit, cashback, has a monthly cap that limits its appeal for those with high spending amounts. This does not invalidate its function as a gateway to credit, but it does nuance the discourse on financial inclusion: accessing a card is not the same as accessing favorable terms, and this nuance should weigh on both those who decide to get the card and those who analyze the health of the financial system as a whole. What is clear is that the alliance between Farmacias Similares and Stori joins a structural market movement in Mexico, where fintechs, digital banks, and everyday consumer brands compete to become the first point of contact with formal credit for millions of people. The pending challenge, for both these companies and regulators, will be to ensure that this first entry point does not become a trap of over-indebtedness for the most vulnerable users.

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