Nicaragua’s central bank president, Mario Alonso, says that the HIPC debt relief will enable his country to tackle poverty and push for economic and judicial reform.

US banks reported strong first quarter results on the back of a solidifying economic recovery, demand for banking products and improved asset quality. Here are the highlights of some of the top banks:

The signs for optimism in Argentina, Brazil and Mexico are under threat from a cooling of the Chinese economy and a probable rise in US interest rates.

Monica Campbell interviews top officials from Bolivia, Mexico and Nicaragua at the Inter-American Development Bank meeting, discussing the major issues currently affecting their countries.

Argentina’s negotiating strategy of threatening to default on its loans to get its own way has underlined the case for greater IMF independence.

With interest rates falling, Brazil’s banks are losing the drip feed that is government debt and are looking to increase lending and fees. Bill Hieronymus reports from Săo Paulo.

Young Argentines who sold a small internet site to Banco Santander for millions of dollars at the height of the internet bubble are jumping into Brazilian banking to compete with the region’s largest financial institutions.

This month, The Banker publishes its first ranking of trade conditions for Latin America based on 2002 data.

Monica Campbell on the steps Nicaragua is taking to lose its status as one of the region’s most corrupt countries.

Even the weakest governments and newest companies have found issuing debt easy, writes Sophie Roell.