Mexico’s banking sector reported a 20.2% increase in earnings in 2010, with an average return on equity of 13.5%. With the country being tipped as the region’s potential star performer this year, Mexican banks should continue to enjoy strong earnings as lending rates recover to pre-crisis levels.

So far Santander Mexico and BBVA Bancomer are the only Mexican banks to issue international bonds. They came to the market at the end of January to each sell Ps5 billion ($413.5 million) of three-year bonds (both deals were self-led, jointly with Banamex) and both priced at 20 basis points over TIIE.

The return of Bill Winters to the financial markets was something of a damp squib, at least to those who had come to view him as the once and future king of investment banking.

Oil E&P company’s international bond a first; Other African corporates should follow

Must be backed by trade flows; Only option purchases permitted

Goldman Sachs’s Gary Cohn thinks hedge funds, not banks, are likely to cause the next financial crisis. He needs to take a long hard stare in the looking glass.

EBRD executive highlights overall strengths;
Multilateral returns to profit

Aims to double MENA revenue; Africa regional office to move to Johannesburg

Foreign buying of ETFs affecting valuations; Lack of liquidity creating dangerous pressure

Brazil highly attractive to developed market investors; South-south trend overstated

At least three SOEs expected to list; Debate over currency unresolved

Is the Brazilian real overvalued? Is there a credit bubble? Is Brazil headed for a correction?

Loans grow in appeal for both banks and munis; State infrastructure banks offer viable alternative

Range of options mooted; Wind-down on the cards

Strong demand from conventional investors; regulatory support, hunger for yield, a simple structure and clever timing.

From Punch Taverns to a string of commercial real estate-backed deals, borrowers and bondholders in distressed European securitizations are squaring up for a bitter fight. The chaotic process by which these structures threaten to unravel will be a lasting legacy of the ABS binge. Louise Bowman reports.

The equity transaction that Petrobras priced on September 23 last year set a world record. The deal was skilfully executed but many of the arguments that divided investor opinion on the transaction rumble on. Rob Dwyer tells the inside story.

The three established leaders have high market shares and plenty of rivals. Large banks, recovering from their own recent near-death experiences, have singled out rates as one of the first businesses to fight their way back into. Newcomers are pitching in too. Peter Lee reports.

Huseyin Erkan is chairman and chief executive of the Istanbul Stock Exchange and one of the main proponents of a deepening of Turkey’s capital markets. The potential for new securities, markets and issuers is there but many bridges need to be crossed. Erkan speaks to Nick Lord.

A new Euromoney survey shows three established leaders have high market shares and plenty of rivals. Large banks, recovering from their own near-death experiences, have singled out rates as one of the first businesses to fight their way back into. Newcomers are pitching in too.

Erstwhile cornerstone investors have fled the worst-affected parts of the developed-world government bond markets as credit concerns infect the once risk-free rates world. Volatility has risen while liquidity between dealers is much diminished and periodically evaporates. Yet bank dealers still see money to be made in this exciting new world and are opening their balance sheets to issuers and investors. Some will no doubt live to regret it. Peter Lee reports.

The wilderness years may be the title of a TV mini-series but it could as easily be a state of mind. I have been thinking about those who are in exile. Obviously potentates such as Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, the former president of Tunisia, come to mind, but might the phrase also apply to senior bankers who are temporarily resting?

Inflation is back, and so are inflation markets after a three-year hiatus brought on by the financial crisis. With some central banks happy to let their economies reflate to foster employment and a sustained recovery, inflation-linked debt might be the best bet in town. Hamish Risk reports.

Turkey’s ambition for an investment-grade rating might be realized this year. Strong fundamentals and political stability almost guarantee it. But if it gets a triple-B rating, two problems remain. What can foreign investors buy, and will making the grade undermine further reform? Nick Lord reports.

With Portugal struggling to pay its debts and the economy shrinking, the 
country needs help. Enter Angola – oil rich, with money to burn, and Portugal’s former prized colony. Angolan investment is growing fast – and nowhere more quickly than in the country’s troubled banks. Some Portuguese are up in arms about it. Sudip Roy reports.

The 2011 guide to Technology in Treasury Management