Banco do Brasil has a policy of attracting and keeping low-income customers who may prove more lucrative in the future. Brian Caplen reports.

Brazil’s banks are finally opening their arms to wealthy and lowbrow consumers and businesses alike. But interest rates remain high. Jonathan Wheatley reports.

The Cayman Islands are the world’s leading domicile for healthcare captive insurance companies and, with more than 700 such companies at the end of 2005, form the second largest offshore centre for captive insurance after Bermuda. The jurisdiction has experienced significant growth since the industry was created in the late 1970s.

The Cayman Islands leads in offshore hedge fund registrations. Now it must respond to changing investment strategies. James Eedes reports.

The number of banks in the Cayman Islands may have dropped after recent rationalisation but their combined assets are flourishing, writes James Eedes.

Having seen off threats from onshore regulators, the Cayman Islands is wary of the next onslaught. James Eedes reports.

Boasting top institutional and physical infrastructures the Cayman Islands has grown to become the world’s fifth largest financial centre. James Eedes reports.

Sometimes, however, it is not the US authorities that give central American banks a hard time, it is their own authorities. El Salvadorean banks are miffed because the investment reserves they deposit at the central bank are outsourced to international investment banks to manage.

The opening of a representative office overseas – not even a branch – does not usually attract the attentions of a country’s president. But when Banco Ficohsa, one of the top banks in Honduras, opened a representative office in the US last month, the president of the country, Manuel Zelaya, along with the central bank governor and the president of the national congress, were all present.

Susana Fernández Caro details how some banks have tapped into
the potential for making loans available exclusively through ATMs.