Category: Web Articles

Mobile phones could help online financial services reach market segments that elude other devices for accessing the World Wide Web.

Latin America is entering the Internet age, which means big opportunities for technology service providers.

With the Internet revolution occurring rapidly in Latin America, it is likely that banks in the region will leapfrog to virtual banking.

The digital economy has revolutionized competition, product innovation, and, most importantly, customer service.

Steel vaults, surveillance cameras, armored trucks and alarm systems offer little protection for banks online. Here’s a description of the high-tech security systems used in cyberspace

Spain’s BBVA buys Bancomer, the Mexican bank, after a rival
bid from Banamex forces BBVA to offer Bancomer’s shareholders an improved deal. A year later, Banamex would be taken over by Citigroup. Soon, foreign banks will own nearly all Mexico’s banks.

Brazil’s central bank promised to privatize Banespa, the
Sao Paulo state bank, soon after it intervened in the bank years earlier. However, the sale of Brazil’s sixth-largest bank is plagued by endless delays, legal challenges and union opposition.

Latin American economies are doing better than expected, with the exception of Ecuador. It defaulted in 1999 and later adopted the US dollar, but it is still struggling to reform its economy and return to growth.

International oil prices begin recovering, which helps
Latin American oil producers – Mexico, Colombia, Venezuela, and Ecuador.

Ecuador decides to scrap its currency, the sucre, and adopt the US dollar in a bid to stop hyperinflation. President Jamil Mahuad was toppled in January in a military-led uprising. His successor, Gustavo Noboa, restores stability.