Best bank Citibank
Citibank's Latin American franchise continues to stay one step ahead of its rivals, benefiting from many years of experience operating in the region and the local market knowledge that comes with its policy of hiring and promoting local staff. Traditional lending business remains a strength, and the bank has an unrivalled set of blue-chip corporate clients. Besides being one of the biggest arrangers of loans into Latin America, Citibank is also strong in capital markets, particularly in meeting the needs of its clients for structured-finance products. Trade finance and project finance are other areas of strength with great growth potential, as is advisory work on intra-regional M&A deals.
Best securities firm JP Morgan
JP Morgan has used its well-developed network of relationships in Latin America to good effect, winning underwriting mandates on a range of high-profile debt offerings from both corporate and sovereign issuers. The firm was the most active bookrunner on Latin debt offerings during 1996, in a market where issuance was running at an all-time high. And added to this strength on the debt side is a formidable presence in equity underwriting, where JP Morgan also came out top as bookrunner on equity offerings.