Latin America and Caribbean

The penny is finally dropping – and bankers in Brazil appear to be taking deforestation in the Amazon seriously.

How can quantitative easing best alleviate the financial fallout from Covid-19? Unconventional monetary policies make investors in emerging markets uncomfortable – especially in Latin America. Little wonder that central banks are treading a cautious path.

The markets have been very relaxed about emerging markets adopting quantitative easing – and that, in itself, could become a problem.

Local scepticism over proposed debt offer rises as bid to include GDP warrants rejected.

El Salvador dives, while Panama copes as trade buckles, remittances drop and fiscal pressures intensify.

Private sector digital adoption is surging because of the pandemic. The resultant efficiencies will partially offset pressure on profitability at the bank.

The awkward truce in Brazil between XP Inc and Itaú broke down in a very public way in June.

Social distancing and government payments are turbo-charging digital bank’s growth.

The country is losing the war on the coronavirus, as well as wasting the ensuing digital payments opportunity eagerly grasped by others in Latin America.

Having raised liquidity in March, Latin American companies are now trying to assess the best way forward. Will they need new debt, fresh equity, or will the economy return sufficiently for them to simply repay?

There is a plausible recovery scenario that would enable Latin America to exit the crisis on a better path than it was on before.

Collapse in Brazilian equities places a question mark over recent growth in retail investment.

A due-diligence downside to working from home.

The bank reports record profits, loan growth and no advance provisioning while Bradesco and Itaú focus on risks ahead.

Breathless reporting of the details of the Argentine government’s offer to bondholders tends to presuppose there is doubt in the outcome.

Peru’s laudable coronavirus emergency measures won’t prevent its banks from taking a substantial hit – so what does that mean for less-well-run economies?

The president of the Inter-American Development Bank tells Euromoney how the bank is reacting to the Covid-19 virus and why he thinks the lasting legacy could be a positive one.

When corporates needed access to credit as the Covid-19 crisis ravaged Brazil’s markets, the big banks baulked or raised their costs dramatically. Is this the price of such a consolidated market, one that also provides much-needed stability in times of turmoil?

Risk that high leverage in global corporates could spark 'new global financial crisis'.

Bank scraps share buyback and postpones dividend decision as COO Arana warns lack of fiscal response from the government risks deeper decline.

They seemed to be emerging, blinking, into the light of a normal financial system under former president Mauricio Macri, but that moment has gone; the new administration has sent real rates negative, while economic and credit growth look to be years away.

Previous crises led to consolidated, profitable sector that should be able to weather coming storm.

It might be too much to say the country was bouncing back before Covid-19 struck, but it was beginning to look a bit better. Not now though.

The new government’s decision to go after Mercado Libre has the sector worried.

The economic fallout from the virus is beginning to impact regional currencies and growth forecasts.

The government’s response to the lack of financial inclusion is to build thousands of new banks throughout the country, but it faces a big challenge in weaning potential customers away from the black economy.

Four years after Scotiabank last took its investor day on the road, the bank put on a show in Santiago in January to highlight the advances it has made in its international banking strategy.

Brazil’s changing macroeconomic environment is shaking up the investment industry – and there has been no bigger winner than XP Inc. In his first post-IPO interview with the international media, CEO Guilherme Benchimol explains the firm’s competitive edge over banks.

The gravitational pull of Latin America on Santander has resulted in the move to appoint Santander Brasil CEO Sergio Rial to the bank’s board as executive director.

The rhetorical battle between Argentina’s government, the IMF and bondholders is heating up but the bigger – largely ignored – issue appears to be the country’s looming financial collapse.