Raimundo Morales, Banco de Credito
Raimundo Morales is an 18-year veteran of Banco de Credito del
Peru, having joined the bank after 10 years at Wells Fargo. Under
his direction as general manager, the bank has assembled a
management team and track record which earned the institution
LatinFinance’s Bank of the Year award in 1997.

On key inspirations for regional reform…
For the region, I would say the reforms Chile implemented in the
1980s served as the first inspiration for the other countries to
change. Hernan Buchi was instrumental in Chile’s reforms and became
the first individual to embody the changes that followed throughout
the region. Everyone basically followed Chile’s example. In Peru, I
believe the single most important event that really changed the
country was the nationalization of the financial system, because it
served as a precursor to the liberalization of the market.
President Fujimori will be remembered as the president that
courageously opened the country. Peru basically copied Chile’s
reforms but did so more quickly. It is a totally different country
now. I should also mention Carlos Bologna who served as Fujimori’s
first economic minister and really played a key role in
orchestrating the reforms after the president closed the Congress.

On landmark deals…
There are several. In 1990, CTC became the first Latin American
company to issue an ADR and trade on the New York Stock Exchange.
ADRs became a tremendous source of foreign capital for many Latin
companies. Of course, the first bond issues from YPF and Telmex
were also very significant deals. In Peru, the citizen’s
participation in the privatization of Telefonica symbolized a great
change in society because it got the people directly involved in
the market, and it made them understand the reforms on a personal
level.

On the nationalization of banks in Peru…
In Peru, at the time of the nationalization of the banks, when
representatives of the government came to Banco de Credito, no one
formally or officially would recognize them. They were there for
many hours and many days trying to take command of the bank, but no
one would pay any attention to them. When they received phone
calls, the secretaries would say they were gone. When they asked
questions, no one would listen to them. They were not even served
any coffee. This for me indicates the change in attitude toward
government intervention that was starting to occur.

On the next 10 years…
With globalization, the world’s economies are becoming more
interdependent, so I think there will be a great period of
stabilization in Latin America because of it. Latin America is part
of the global economy now. Barring any tremendous drop in the US
market, I believe Latin America will continue on its path of
significant growth.