Foreign banks have bought a substantial chunk of Colombia’s banking system as they have in most other Latin American markets. Foreign-owned banks now account for 42% of the country’s financial […]
Category: Regions
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Mutual Funds Gain Ground in Mexico
Legal changes and growing prosperity have assured Mexico’s mutual fund industry a significant role. The beneficiaries are savers and financial institutions, including foreign and independent players.
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Santander Buys Serfin
Spain’s Banco Santander Central Hispano won the auction for Mexico’s third-largest bank, Grupo Financiero Serfin, with a bid worth 14.7 billion pesos ($1.56 billion). The government took over Serfin last […]
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Spanish Steel Deal
Spain’s Aceralia Corporacion Siderurgica has said it will go ahead and buy Ahmsa, Mexico’s largest steelmaker. Aceralia has until June 15 to make a formal proposal to the bankrupt company’s […]
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A Clean Balance Sheet
Bancolombia has gained the confidence of international investors and cleaned up its balance sheet. Now the bank must prove it can thrive in Colombia’s feeble economy and fend off foreign competition.
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France Telecom Swaps Shares
France Télécom has swapped its voting shares in Telmex, Mexico’s largest telephone company, for non-voting shares. The deal is part of a plan to make it easier to begin selling […]
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Peru’s Moment of Truth
Whoever wins the presidential election, international investors want to see Peru’s new leader stabilize the country’s finances. Even the faintest whiff of populism would discourage foreign investment.
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Glorified, but not Glorious
Rogelio Ramírez de la O, a Mexican economist, believes the international press and finanical community have exaggerated the accomplishments of President Ernesto Zedillo. De la O argues that in spite of his economic achievements, Zedillo has failed to create a new economic framework for Mexico and has left masses of workers outside the rising tide of global capital flows.
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Mexican Money Supply
Mexico’s central bank has won an outstanding reputation for executing sound monetary policy. Rarely has the central bank’s monetary expansion deviated from the path it has laid out each year. […]
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Mexico Approves Bancruptcy Code
Mexico’s Congress has approved two important new financial industry reforms, which the government hopes will make it easier for banks to recover loans and so resume lending. The previous legislation, […]