Recoveries, reschedulings, crises and scandal: no region’s financial markets have been as turbulent as Latin America’s over the last five decades. Euromoney had a ringside seat for all the booms and busts, and access to some of the colourful characters – from presidents to bank chiefs – that have tried to steer Latin America towards a more sustainable path.

Working in Beirut in 1974 was a formative experience for Padraic Fallon, the long-serving editor and later chairman of Euromoney, and since then the magazine has set the standard for coverage of this often misunderstood region.

In response to Euromoney's article EBRD: There’s no place like home, January 24.

March 2019

March 2019

Australia’s Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry was a bruising business for all involved, but it was not without its light-hearted moments.

Of all the global corridors of trade and investment, the one between Latin America and the Middle East is among the least travelled.

While the region has proved its economic and financial resilience in recent years, it’s time to look ahead and become competitive for whatever the next 50 years will bring, says former Colombia finance minister Mauricio Cárdenas.

After decades of trying, have LatAm’s central bankers finally steadied the ship? Mexico's Agustin Carstens, one of the monetary policy stalwarts of the region, takes stock.

Since Roberto Setubal became chief executive of Itaú Unibanco in 1994, the bank’s growth has been spectacular – but the next stage is harder to target.

Staying committed to a region where deal flow sometimes stops overnight is tough for an international investment bank. Local firms and the few foreign competitors that have stuck around hope to benefit from any upturn in business. The in-and-outers might find it hard to get back.

Argentina is on a precipice, Venezuela has a humanitarian crisis and Brazil is just exiting its worst-ever recession – so far, so Latin America. But some countries have shown a path to sustainable growth and others are now grasping the nettle of reform. In a series of articles to commemorate 50 years of Euromoney, we speak to architects of previous recovery plans and to today's heads of the region's top banks and investment banks and ask: could an end to Latin America's long history of boom and bust finally be in sight?

The region’s leading banks produce some of the best numbers in the global industry, and success in retail banking – and a hard-learned approach to risk management – are core; could the growth of digital banking bring a new era of change?

Less than five years after Euromoney began, the Arab oil embargo gave international finance a shot in the arm and provided an extraordinary windfall to the Gulf, but as the oil boom has repeatedly turned to bust, commodity cycles have laid bare the vacuity of the region’s diversification programmes. Today, with local populations expanding, harder and less stable times could lie ahead if the region does not take more drastic action – even when oil prices bounce back.

Islamic finance has come a long way over the past few decades, maturing into a $2.4 trillion industry, but some long-term problems remain and the recent wrangle over a Dana Gas sukuk shows credibility is still an issue.

War and revolution have shaped the Middle East’s recent history and have left their mark on the banking sector. Senior bankers reflect on the role crisis has played in their careers and on the region’s financial system.

For nearly two decades Dubai has acted as the beating heart of Middle Eastern finance, but now its long-dormant rivals are mounting successful efforts to reclaim a piece of the action.

Over 50 years, leaders of Middle East financial institutions have steered their businesses through very good and very bad times, including oil price crashes, rampant property and stock speculation, and war. Some key figures highlight the events they remember most and spell out lessons for the next generation.

The region’s banks used to be small, local and low-tech – many still are – but in the future they will be altogether different beasts.

The final report of Australia’s Royal Commission into misbehaviour in financial services had plenty of blood and thunder, and has already brought down the top executives of National Australia Bank, but it doesn’t bring the promise of lasting reform.

The rationale to accelerate cuts in its US investment bank is obvious, but an orderly withdrawal will be hard to execute.

JPMorgan is trying to advance its master plan for global fintech domination with a discipline that is often lacking in a sector better known for wildly over-promising than actually delivering practical solutions.

The country is now in default on almost all of its foreign currency bonds; investors need to think ahead about the debt renegotiation to come.

Ever wondered why there is a dark stripe in the wall on the way to the Merrill elevators in London?

Automating debt and equity new issues comes a step closer with $20 million funding round for a new regulated platform.

Traders remember the old King of Wall Street.

Results week showed record profits at Singapore’s banks – but all three institutions had footnotes in the numbers that we should pay attention to.

Handing Ukraine’s largest bank back to its former shareholders would amount to economic suicide – but speculation is rising that leading presidential candidates plan to do just that.

JPMorgan says that its new dollar stablecoins are collateralized against client dollar deposits but it also emphasizes its own strong balance sheet as surety.

The Greek banks’ bad debt reduction targets look eye-wateringly ambitious for a country that is only just getting to grips with a coordinated strategy to deal with the issue.