A buy-and-hold mentality is thwarting Brazil’s debt capital market, limiting access to long-term funding in the country. A number of initiatives have been launched to help deepen the market, but will they help it meet the mounting finance requirements of domestic development projects and local corporates? 

Singapore and Hong Kong continue to attract the highest levels of foreign direct investment among Asian international finance centres. But there is change afoot elsewhere, with increasing levels of investment in Beijing causing it to replace Shanghai as the third most attractive Asian IFC for FDI.

Bolivia is about to tap the international capital markets for the first time in a century, a move which its finance minister says reflects its impressive economic performance of the past few years.

As Europe's banks come to terms with the economic impact of Basel III's rules on capital requirements, their demand for trade finance deals in Latin America through the International Finance Corporation has waned. But this leaves the door open to North American and Asian banks looking to increase their presence in the region.

Awash with liquidity and buoyed by a strong local economy, the story of Uruguay's banks seems to be a rosy one on first inspection. However, with its banking sector dominated by state-owned lenders, private banks have struggled to turn in a profit, leading them to look towards local consumer loans and mortgages.

Despite the doom and gloom surrounding Italy's future prospects, the president of its employers association, Confindustria, is confident that the country's new government has already made great strides towards putting it back on a path to growth.