The swathe of new reforms being proposed by Mexican president Enrique Peña Nieto have the potential to open up new avenues of business for the country's banks, both large and small.

Ahead of the annual Sibos conference, The Banker’s editor Brian Caplen discusses the event’s agenda with Swift’s chief executive Gottfried Leibbrandt. They consider the impact of inbound regulations, the rise of new technologies, the big data challenge, emerging market growth and the wider economic picture.

Africa’s agricultural sector may still be underdeveloped, but it is growing as investors increasingly seek to exploit local and regional sources of demand and develop the continent’s processing capacity. A greater provision of banking services is also helping.

The withdrawal of some banking groups from commodities trading has created opportunities for independent brokers, but regulation, automation and competition still make it a challenging business.

Long-only commodities funds suffered poor returns in 2012 and investment banks saw their revenues squeezed, but there are still growth opportunities.

With balance sheet clean-ups continuing in Europe and the US, banks in emerging markets have grabbed the opportunity to forge stronger relationships with local commodity producers. 

Tighter bank financing, falling government subsidies and rising US shale gas production are all putting the squeeze on the renewable energy industry.

Despite well-publicised retrenchment in commodities finance by some European banks, merchant trading companies are still able to find sources of funding expand their business lines.

The worst of the liquidity squeeze on eurozone banks has eased conditions for commodities finance during 2012, but the business still faces significant challenges.