Forty-four per cent of Spanish bank BBVA’s 2005 attributable net profit came from Latin America. There is both a downside to this – excessive dependence on a risky region – and an upside – an incredible opportunity to leverage a strong franchise.

Brian Caplen reports on government efforts to avoid past mistakes and provide security for future generations.

These days financial centres are springing up all over the place and central America and the Caribbean already has its fair share. Yet still there are new contenders, the latest being Trinidad and Tobago, whose ambitions are not modest.

The headlines about Latin America this year have been dominated by left-wing outpourings from Venezuela’s President Hugo Chávez, by Bolivian President Evo Morales’s nationalisation of the country’s oil and gas fields and by corruption allegations involving Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s administration, which may well put his re-election in jeopardy.

There are no big surprises in the North American ranking, where Citigroup still leads its nearest domestic rival by a similar margin to that of last year. Then, it led JPMorgan by virtue of $74.4bn in Tier 1 capital to the latter’s $68.6bn; this year, it leads Bank of America Corp with $79.4bn against BofA’s $74bn.

Trinidadian banks are hungry for a bigger slice of the country’s lucrative energy sector but their plea for an end to withholding tax, which they argue would make them more able to compete, is falling on deaf ears. Brian Caplen reports from Port of Spain.

Three mid-sized Chilean banks have handed their entire back-office and IT operations to national telecoms carrier Entel.

Turning developments in the region and even Panama’s own political crises to good advantage, Banistmo won The Banker’s Bank of the Year award, having retained its position as Panama’s leading private bank over the past two decades. It has also grown into central America’s biggest private banking group.

Despite being blacklisted by the world’s major regulatory bodies in 2000, Panama’s banks never stopped growing. Jane Monahan reports from Panama City.

In January, underwriters and issuers were sure innovations in the US FIG hybrid market would prompt a flood of new issues in 2006. Five months on, that flood is a trickle after NAIC classification concerns significantly stalled the infant market, resulting in a stand-off. Kathryn Tully reports.
There are a lot of disgruntled bankers, issuers and investors in the US hybrid bond market right now.