Euromoney Awards for Excellence 2002: Latin America

Awards for Excellence 2002


Best bank: Santander Central Hispano
Best debt house: Citigroup
Best M&A house: JPMorgan
Best equities house: UBS Warburg
Best risk management and treasury house: JPMorgan
Best bank at transaction services: Citigroup
Best bank at cash management: Citigroup

Latin America is a continent of dashed expectations. It has effectively been in a recession for the past five years and there's still precious little sign of recovery. Argentina's default at the end of 2001 was, to many, the final nail in the coffin: with hindsight, those banks that abandoned the region at the onset of the Asian crisis in 1997 were simply prescient.

Corporate activity, whether in the equity or M&A markets, remains negligible by global standards, so the big two awards in the region are those for best bank and best debt house. In both cases, only two banks have the size and breadth even to make the shortlist: Citigroup competes with Santander on the banking side, and with JPMorgan on the credit side.