Americas
Latest articles from Americas
LatAm banks take CSR plunge
July 7, 2009Banks across Latin America are gradually signing up to the rules designed to ensure major project finance is environmentally responsible. But take-up is still slow and commitment varies from institution to institution. Writer Jane Monahan
A public answer to a private problem
June 4, 2009
Carlos Heller, president, Creditcoop
As Argentina slides towards recession, the country's private banks are reining in their lending activity, meaning that publicly owned banks will have to take a more advanced role in safeguarding the country's economic wellbeing. Writer Jason Mitchell in Buenos Aires
Winners and Losers in LATAM
June 4, 2009Some of the multilateral development banks in the Latin Americas region are proving stellar sources of funding at this time of crisis, although others are lagging behind with depleted reserves. Writer Jane Monahan
A different kind of support
June 4, 2009National development banks in Latin America such as Brazil's BNDES and Mexico's Nafinsa are playing an important role in keeping funds flowing in the region, but there is a danger of them being over-stretched. Writer Jane Monahan
Back on song
June 4, 2009With the panic subsiding fast, Brazil's equity markets have staged an astonishing turnaround allowing canny investment banks to find their feet in the country again. Writer John Rumsey
Development demand
June 4, 2009
Press conference on co-operation between the Latin American development banks (l to r): Enrique Garcia, CAF president; Luis Alberto Moreno, IDB president; Jyrki Koskelo, IFC vice-president for Europe, central Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean and global financial markets; and Pamela Cox, World Bank vice-president for Latin America and the Caribbean
The slump in capital markets activity and a decline in cash flow has pushed Latin America's multilateral development banks to prominence as the biggest and most robust lenders in some of the region's principal credit markets. Writer Jane Monahan in Washington, DC
A small voice shouting loudly
June 4, 2009David Thompson - Barbados' prime minister
Unimpressed by the lack of representation for the world's smaller nations at the G-20 summit in London in April, Barbados' prime minister David Thompson took it upon himself to visit the city and tell the world of the plight of his country and others in the Caribbean. Writer Hugh O' Shaughnessy
Brazil's giants stand ready to pounce
May 5, 2009
Strict regulation, high capital and reserve requirements, and low levels of debt mean Brazil's banks are flourishing and in a good position to capitalise if their US and European competitors should pull back. Writer Brian Caplen
Cover stars: Brazilian bankers are still feted rather than reviled, unlike their colleagues in the US and Europe
A combined effort to tackle the crisis
May 5, 2009The countries of the Caribbean have so far avoided the worst of the global slowdown, in part due to the region's steadfast regulatory discipline, but also because of the conservative approach adopted by the Canadian banks that dominate the area's financial sector. Writer Jane Monahan