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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?

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.

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?

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.

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.

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.

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.

Andrea Enria must open up the European Central Bank’s (ECB) bank data and supervision to scrutiny, but he faces resistance, and not just from banks.