The International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private-sector arm of the World Bank, has extended its Global Trade Finance Program to the Caribbean. It announced that Banco Multiple Leon, the third-largest private commercial bank in the Dominican Republic, has become the first issuing bank to join the Program in the region. Through the program, the IFC “provides guarantee coverage of bank risk in emerging markets, allowing recipients to expand their trade finance transactions within an extensive network of countries and banks and to enhance their trade finance coverage”.
Category: Regions
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Peru Economy Expands 9% July
Peru’s economy expanded 9.04% in July, year-on-year, beating analysts’ forecasts and recording the second-highest monthly growth of the year. July’s expansion takes growth for the first seven months of the year to 6.97%, according to the national institute of statistics (INEI). Last year, Peru recorded growth of 6.5%; the target for economic expansion this year is 6.6%.
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Colombian Regulator Gives Ripley Green Light
Chilean financial group Ripley International has received the go-ahead from Colombia’s financial regulator to establish Ripley Financiera, in partnership with retailer Carulla Vivero – recently bought by local rival Almacenes Éxito. Financiera Ripley, as it will be called, will have paid-up capital of $6 million. Meanwhile, US investment bank JP Morgan Chase & Co will have to wait until November to formally set up its financing firm in Colombia. The Bank was given the green light in July by the country’s banking regulator to set up a subsidiary, authorized to carry out investment banking and debt trading in the local market.
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ISA Powers Up
Colombia’s largest energy provider, state-controlled Interconexión Eléctrica SA (ISA), together with state-owned Empresa de Energía de Bogotá have increased their control of Peruvian electricity transmission company Consorcio TransMantaro. They bid $17.7 million Thursday, the sole bidder at the auction to buy the remaining 15% stake held by the Peruvian state. Peru’s investment agency ProInversión had earlier set a minimum price of $15.2 million. In May the Colombian firms bought 57% of the TransMantaro from Canada’s Hydro-Québec for $67 million. The Quebec Federation of Labour Solidarity Fund owns the remaining 28% stake.
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Grupo Financiero Barclays Mexico Starts Operations
Barclays Capital began operations of Grupo Financiero Barclays Mexico Tuesday. The business, comprising a bank and a broker-dealer, is headed up by Lorenzo Gonzalez Bosco who serves as president of the new group as well as president of Barclays Bank Mexico. He will oversee Barclays Capital Casa de Bolsa, led by Antonio Villa, formerly head of origination and debt capital markets for Mexico at ABN AMRO Securities (Mexico). Other appointments include Juan Icaza Fernandez del Castillo, who joins from BBVA Mexico where he was head of derivatives trading, who is appointed director of Barclays Bank Mexico and Carlos Kretschmer as head of institutional sales for Barclays Bank Mexico.
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Mexico Industrial Activity Up 5.5%
Mexico’s industrial activity through the first seven months of the year was up 5.5% compared with the same period last year, according to the finance ministry. The most dynamic industrial sector during the period January through July was construction, which saw a rise of 7%, followed by manufacturing (5.4%), electricity, gas and water (4.3%), and mining (2.9%).
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Mexico Plans Further Catastrophe Bond
Mexico is planning to issue another catastrophe bond (CAT) early next year, this time to protect against hurricane damage. In May this year, it sold $160 million worth of CAT bonds as part of a $450 million insurance package to protect itself against the future cost of damage in the event of a major quake. This was the first time Mexico had issued such paper and the first time a developing nation had tapped the financial markets in this way. The new CAT bonds will cover the hurricane-prone regions on the Yucután Penisula and those along the Pacific coast.
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Central American Securities Exchanges Join Forces
The Central American securities exchanges of Panama, Costa Rica and El Salvador have signed an agreement to develop a joint electronic exchange. The new exchange, which has yet to be named, is due to open in about 12 months and will quote shares and corporate debt securities. The three exchanges, which together accounted for $677 million share turnover and $42.8 billion of debt securities transactions last year, are considered the most developed in the region outside Mexico. The aim of the exchanges is to join forces and form a regional market along the lines of the NOREX, Scandinavian market.
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Korean Steelmaker Heads To Mexico
South Korean steelmaker Pohang Iron and Steel Co (POSCO), the fourth-largest in the world, is to build a new plant in northern Mexico for $250 million, to supply the booming local automotive industry. The plant, to be built in Altamira, in the state of Tamaulipas, will produce galvanized steel sheet and should be ready by 2009.
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Mexico Auto Production Up 19.5%
Mexico’s car production in August was up 19.5%, compared with the same month a year ago. The rise was driven, yet again, by export demand for automotives, which increased by 38% in the month. Even domestic sales, which had been expected to drop, held their ground and rose by 0.3%. Exports of automotives have risen as foreign manufacturers expand their operations in the country to take advantage of cheaper manufacturing costs. The auto industry is an important component of Mexico’s industrial production, accounting for around 10% of its total output.