Latin America and Caribbean

Investors expect a radical transformation in Brazilian financial services in the next five years: this enthusiasm is depressing incumbent stocks while driving strong valuations for start-ups.

The country’s poverty is in marked contrast to the relative affluence of its neighbours. It needs access to finance beyond disaster relief. But can banks make a business case for a nation in such poor repair?

Banorte CEO says market will be 'surprised' by what comes next for the bank; fintech growth unlikely to impact bank growth in the short-term.

The locals in Brazil are enjoying their home-field investment banking advantage.

Argentina is about to default; again. It will be the ninth time in the past 200 years, and the Latin American sovereign is about to test its ability to survive beyond the ascribed mortality of cats.

When Mauricio Macri won the last presidential election in 2015, the future for Argentina’s banks looked rosy: a spate of international debt and equity deals confirmed the optimism. No one who participated in those deals – including Galicia’s CEO Fabián Kon – thought the country would soon be back to square one.

Bradesco’s digital bank start-up has grown rapidly and is already looking to leave the bank’s existing corporate structure.

Success for pensions reform in the Congress – the long-held litmus test of Brazilian recovery – has buoyed asset prices and led to a flurry of activity.

The rapid fall in interest rates in Brazil, from a peak of 14.25% in 2016 to 6.5% in February 2018, created expectations among analysts that the biggest banks’ famously high net interest margin was finally about to be eroded.

The bank has retrenched, rebranded and grown since 2015.

Argentina’s politicians have played their cards for the coming presidential election – Cristina Kirchner surprised everyone by lining up behind Alberto Fernandez.

$2.5 billion deal makes bank more profitable and a purer ‘Latam’ play; CEO says still huge upside on valuations, and revenue growth to come.

HSBC wants to triple both onshore and offshore revenues, profits and ebitda in Brazil within five years.

Frustration is building quickly in Brazil. What was supposed to be the beginning of a credit cycle – and a structural improvement in long-term economic growth – is becoming just another false dawn.

HSBC, JPMorgan and Mizuho lend Mexico’s oil company $8 billion after investors show no interest in non-deal roadshow – and that’s the least of the firm’s problems.

Move adds offshore platform for private clients; bank argues BAC Florida Bank deal adds to its story as the momentum play in the market.

The investment landscape is shifting rapidly as falling returns on sovereign fixed income assets force investors to look elsewhere for returns. Retail investors in particular are playing an important role in the transformation of local capital markets.

New regulation would see top-12 banks adopt open banking second half of next year; central bank hopes better risk management will lower cost of credit, spur growth.

The 100-day mark of Brazil’s new president, Jair Bolsonaro, has recently passed; no one – not even the government itself – pretended the time had been well spent.

The phony war has been long, but the first real battle has now begun in Brazil’s fintech space.

Lower interest rates point to lower NIMs this year; Growing competition from newly regulated fintech sector will lead banks’ costs to rise.

Q1 2019 data shows severe year-on-year falls in activity; hangover from 2018 blamed: signs of recovery for quarters ahead.

Protectionism is undermining an otherwise moderate global outlook as growth continues, labour markets tighten and geopolitical crises calm.

After so long, private bank clients and even retail investors are no longer happy with the returns from government bonds; instead, they are searching for yield and pushing up the value of risk assets.

The government is pushing structural reforms despite the economic crisis; new tax regulations aimed to bring money onshore.

There are key differences between the growth outlook for Argentina’s banks today and that of Brazil’s banks from 2003 to 2008.

Monetary policy is now much more effective in Brazil and it’s having some interesting consequences.

The 50th anniversary issues of Euromoney are forcing journalists to take a broader sweep of the issues we cover than the usual month-by-month perspective.

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.

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