On October 8, 2008, the Foreign Exchange Commission, composed of officials from the Ministry of Finance and Banco de México, and which is responsible for Mexico's foreign exchange policy, announced the following actions due to the prevailing uncertainty and lack of liquidity in the foreign exchange market:

Starting October 9, USD 400 million will be auctioned daily (this daily amount to be auctioned changed to USD 300 million starting March 9, 2009, and readjusted again to USD 250 million starting June 9, 2009, for further details, see circular 6/2009).

The following summarizes the most important details under which the aforementioned mechanism (point number 2) operates. For further details, see circular 47/2008.

  1. The USD auction is carried out in three different time slots: from 9.30 a.m. to 9.35 a.m. for the first auction; from 11.30 a.m. to 11.35 a.m. for the second auction; and, from 1.00 p.m. to 1.05 p.m. for the third auction.
  2. If the auctions of the preceding business day do not result in any allotment, the minimum price for the dollar auction will be set at 1.02 times the Mexican peso, as determined by the FIX of the preceding business day.
  3. If the auctions of the preceding business day result in an allotment, the minimum price for the dollar auction will be set at 1.02 times the weighted average price of the previous business day's allotment.
  4. The minimum bid price will always be the same for the three auctions.
  5. Any daily amount not allotted is not cumulative.
  6. The sum of the allotted amounts of the three auctions must not surpass USD 400 million (this daily amount to be auctioned changed to USD 300 million starting March 9, 2009 and was readjusted again to USD 250 million, starting June 9, 2009).

On March 9, 2009 an additional auction mechanism was introduced. For further details, see circular 6/2009.

Likewise, on May 29, 2009, the Foreign Exchange Commission announced that had it decided to reduce the amount to be auctioned on the auction with a minimum price from USD 300 million to USD 250 million, effective June 9, 2009.

On April 9, 2010, the Foreign Exchange Commission announced that this mechanism would be suspended starting April 12, 2010.