Latest articles from Americas

Public banks feel the pressure of success

November 6, 2006

Brazil’s public banks are striving for efficiency in an increasingly competitive market. Elizabeth Johnson reports.

Investors welcomed but hurdles remain

November 6, 2006

Colombia offers financial opportunities to acquisitive global banks but problems such as tax and access continue to hinder growth. Courtney Fingar reports.

Colombia on the comeback trail

November 6, 2006

Economic growth in Colombia is brisk: purchasing power is up and inflation is at its lowest for 40 years. But what of the security issue? Courtney Fingar reports from Bogata.

Manuel Medina-Mora

November 6, 2006

Five years after a big bank acquisition, it is a rare deal that is viewed as an unmitigated success. But that is what has happened in the case of Citigroup’s purchase of Mexican bank Banamex.

Agustín Carstens

November 6, 2006

He was Mexico’s deputy finance minister in the first half of President Vicente Fox’s administration, pushing for fiscal reform and credited with doing an excellent job, particularly in his handling of the country’s fractious Congress (not, as bankers point out, something at which the Fox administration in general has been very good).

Friendly foreigners or alien invaders?

November 6, 2006

Mexico’s chief banker is not alone in criticising foreign banks’ inroads and influence on nascent markets. But do they really do more harm than good? Karina Robinson weighs up the arguments.

Alberto Verme

November 6, 2006

“I have a passion for winning,” says Alberto Verme, Citigroup’s 49-year-old co-head of global investment banking. Born in Ica, a small town south of Lima, Peru, Mr Verme was Citigroup’s global head of energy, power and chemicals in 2001, when he secured a critical mandate: advising Conoco on its $15.6bn merger with Phillips.

Roberto Setúbal

November 6, 2006

When we think of global retail banks, we tend to think of Citibank and HSBC. But it is possible that in a decade’s time, one or two banks from a fast-growing developing country might be a household name alongside these giants.

Luis Alberto Moreno

November 6, 2006

Luis Alberto Moreno spent seven years as Colombia’s ambassador to the US and made such a good impression that Washington backed his bid to become president of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) last October.

Carlos Slim Helú

November 6, 2006

Listed by Forbes as the third richest man in the world behind Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, no list of Latin America’s big hitters would be complete without Mexico’s Carlos Slim. After making another $6bn last year, the 66-year-old’s net worth is now estimated to be about $30bn.