FiNETIK – Asia and Latin America – Market News Network

Asia and Latin America News Network focusing on Financial Markets, Energy, Environment, Commodity and Risk, Trading and Data Management

Latin America: Investors News Letter 10 May 2013

Mexico

Mexico Industry Output Falls Three Times More Than Forecast

Mexico’s industrial production fell three times more than analysts forecast in March, reinforcing expectations that the central bank will cut interest rates for the second time since 2009 later this year.

Factbox: Key facts about Mexico’s tax system

MEXICO CITY – Mexico’s new government has promised a comprehensive review of its tax system, to be announced in the second half of 2013 along with an overhaul of energy policy.

Obama tells Mexicans a ‘new Mexico’ is emerging

US-Mexico Stereotypes Must Be Broken

America Movil sees material impact from Mexico telecom reform

Brazil

Despite winning top world trade job, even Brazil looks beyond WTO

Brazil campaigned hard to get the top job at the World Trade Organization this week but behind closed doors even it acknowledges that the WTO’s main mission – pushing forward in global trade talks – looks for the moment like a lost cause.

BM&FBovespa Quarterly Earnings Trail Estimates as Costs Increase

Petronas Malaysia bolsters Brazil’s Batista with $850 million oil-field buy

Venezuela’s Maduro gets firm Brazilian backing, trade

Brazilian M&A Picks Up as Asians Seek Cheaper Oilfields

Latin America

Argentina’s Deadbeat Special: Buy a 4% Bond or Go to Jail

Panama Canal Cuts Water Use as Drought Prompts Energy Rationing

Brazil’s Odebrecht plans $20 billion spend, targets Peru as key investment
CHICAGO TRIBUNE – Brazilian conglomerate Odebrecht plans to invest $20 billion globally over the next three years, mostly in Latin America and much of it in Peru

Saipem wins $500m offshore contracts in Latin America
- Italy-based engineering services provider Saipem has received new engineering and construction (E&C) offshore contracts, worth a total value of $500m, in Latin America.

APMT prepares for high growth markets
Although global container volumes are not predicted to grow as rapidly over the next five years as they have over the past decade, high growth emerging markets will require higher levels of productivity and rely heavily on expanded inland services

Cartagena aims to be a global megaport by 2017
The Colombian Caribbean port of Cartagena is undertaking extensive infrastructure and technology upgrades in an effort to be one of the world’s 30 best megaports by 2017.

Filed under: Argentina, Brazil, Central America, Chile, Colombia, Energy & Environment, Malaysia, Mexico, News, Peru, Risk Management, Venezuela, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Derivatives: Struggling Into the New Era – Outlook 2013/14

The past few years have been challenging for the global economy but it seems as though the derivatives industry sustained more than its share of insults and injuries over the past year or so. Still reeling from the trauma of MF Global in October of 2011, exchange-traded volume went into its first nosedive in decades.

Urgent regulatory requirements added intense cost and time pressures to company staffs that were already stretched. A non-clearing FCM, Peregrine Financial, collapsed in scandal. OTC derivatives struggled with complex regulatory mandates and weak volume.

Perhaps the only positive for the year was that mergers and acquisitions at both the macro and micro level imply that innovation and creativity are still powerful industry drivers. That in turn suggests that the creative dynamism that has characterized the derivatives industry for so many years still has some innings to go.

Read the detailed report about Derivatives market outlook, challenges and issue of big deals, exchange mergers and new start ups, customer protection, Regulatory,Extraterritorial and Tax problems  and more. 

Source: WEF 25.04.2013 by Nicolas Ronalds

Filed under: Asia, Brazil, Exchanges, Risk Management, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Mexico: Investment News Letter 14 March 2013

Mexican Peso Gains for Fifth Day on Export Outlook; Bonds Rally

Why you should be excited about Mexico

Group Of Investors Acquires Important Stake In Aeromexico

Mexico eyes telecoms revolution

The Mexican government on Monday announced a sweeping proposal to limit the reach of telecoms tycoon Carlos Slim and broadcasting giant Televisa as part of efforts to boost competition in Latin America’s second-biggest economy. The bill, which forms part of the most ambitious economic reform agenda in a generation, seeks to establish a powerful industry regulator armed with an array of tools to curb companies’ control of markets, while opening up space for new investors.

Bold reforms of president buoy Mexico

If every government has a defining moment, that of Mexico’s new administration may have come this month when authorities arrested the head of the teachers’ union and put her behind bars without bail.

Mexico, among the lagged to do business

The study Doing Business 2012 locates the country in the 53rd place of 183 countries. Among the states with the best regulations are Colima and Aguascalientes.

Beer, tomato and avocado are among the most exported

U.S. is the main destination of the Agrifood exports of Mexico, with 74.2% but they also arrive to new markets, such as the Japanese.

Mexico will remain tied to the U.S.

The country exported almost 80% of their goods and for 2030 is expected that the neighbor to the north will capture 70% of Mexican exports.

For Mexican Insurers, Solvency II Reforms are all about the Details

As the global insurance industry prepares for the implementation in 2014 of the new risk-based capital requirements, known as Solvency II, many discussions about how new regulations will be written have been taking place in both local and international forums. Among the countries preparing for Solvency II is Mexico, where recently its Congress passed a new law that essentially sets the scaffolding for implementing Solvency II and merges current laws for the country’s insurance business. The new law’s primary objective is to strengthen the procedures for reserves calculation and defines levels of capital requirement according to each company’s risk profile. In contrast to what the current law required, the new one allows for a more precise distinction between capital and reserve requirements for different business lines under Pillar I of Solvency II, for strengthening corporate governance under Pillar II, and for adding more transparency under Pillar III.

Filed under: Latin America, Mexico, News, , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Latin America: Investors News Letter 14 March 2013

Top Ranking Banks in Latin America
After a decade of unusual success, the LatAm banking sector has slowed its growth
The year 2011 closed with disturbing news. Banco Santander decided to sell its subsidiary in Colombia, which finally Chile’s Corp Group bought for US$1.225 million. At the time, the chairman of Santander, Emilio Botin, said the measure was taken to “strengthen the balance sheet” of the crestfallen Spanish giants. As he explained, “Our market share in commercial banking in Colombia is far from the 10% which we aspired to get in the markets where we operate.” …

LatAm Hedge Fund Experts Weigh In
On the Current Political and Economic Context
Though 2011 and 2012 have been strong years for LatAm hedge funds, particularly relative to other regions, the political and Workings macroeconomic context in which local managers are investing has been fraught with complicated developments.  For instance, the slowdown in China has affected commodities markets, the lifeblood of many of the region …

Investors Ditch Brazil For Mexico, Colombia

Gramercy Adds to Latin America Private Equity Investment Team

IFC Invests $100M in Energy for Caribbean, Latin America

Brazil

2013 Oil & Gas Industry Perspectives  Brazil
Brazil is heralded as the largest and most significant new oil and gas prospect of the last few decades. However, there is still a long way to go to realize the promise of a new non-OPEC stable source of supply in the top 5 world oil producers by 2020. Progress toward this ambitious target has been slow in the last year, as project development, execution and political risks have taken their toll …

Brazil Real Drops on Speculation Credit Rating May Be Lowered

First meetings on Guyana-Brazil infrastructure project begins

Paraná green lights process to start Paranaguá port infrastructure works in Brazil

ETF investors avoid Brazil

Brazil Seeks Recipe to Attract Investors at Lower Cost

Brazil May Be Next Health-Care Frontier for Global Investors

Troubled Brazil fund Laep to sell 40 mln new shares-filing

BTG Pactual shuts macro hedge fund to new money

Argentina

Argentina Is Replaying Another Inflationary Collapse

Mining investment in Argentina grows 72% despite risky business climate

Fernandez Angers Investors While Ducking Argentine Austerity

Colombia

Foreign direct investment in Colombia seen down in 2013

Chile

Top LatAm selector on working Chile’s red tape

Banchile builds with Fidessa’s sell-side trading platform and connectivity network

Costa Rica

Costa Rica Constructing $96M Oil Terminal

Peru
Peru announces major upgrade to Lima’s water infrastructure

Peru’s Private Pension Funds Want Higher External Investment Limit

Qatar “looks favorably upon” investment-friendly Peru

Peru’s Private Pension Funds Want Higher External Investment Limit

Velarde Says Peru May Allow Pension Funds to Invest More Abroa

Venezuela

Venezuela to Create New Parallel Exchange Rate, Ramirez Says

Venezuela will establish a new parallel exchange rate as it seeks to crack down on a black market in which the dollar is worth about four times more than the official rate, Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez said.

Filed under: Argentina, Banking, Brazil, Central America, Chile, Colombia, Latin America, Mexico, Peru, Venezuela, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

SIX Financial Information and LUZ Engenharia Financeira in strategic cooperation in Brazil

Zurich, Switzerland – SIX Financial Information and LUZ Engenharia Financeira, the largest provider of risk management software and consulting services to buy- and sell-side institutions in Brazil, have established a strategic relationship to meet the growing need for broader and deeper international financial market data in Brazil.

As Brazil’s investment community increasingly turns to foreign markets to achieve superior returns, reliable, high quality pricing and reference data becomes more important every day. SIX Financial Information, a leading provider of global financial information since 1930, will fill that need for clients of LUZ Engenharia Financeira.

Edivar Vilela Queiroz, CEO of LUZ Engenharia Financeira commented, “While the Brazilian financial services community has been well served by local data providers, SIX Financial Information has the breadth and depth of global market data to support current needs as well as the capacity to grow as our local market evolves.” He continued, “And as the world’s markets become ever more connected and transparent, this is an important differentiator that will allow seamless growth into offshore markets.”

“As Brazil becomes a major force in the global financial markets, foreign investors will undoubtedly continue their steadily increasing interest in the Brazilian markets and help foster even more growth,” said Barry Raskin, Managing Director for SIX Financial Information USA. “We are excited to extend our focus to this vibrant market, and very pleased that LUZ-EF has given us their stamp of approval through this strategic partnership.”

On Wednesday, March 13 2013, SIX Financial Information and LUZ-EF will jointly host a client event in São Paulo where they will formally announce their partnership and describe the international equity and options pricing and reference data available through the LUZ-EF platform.

Source: SIX Financial Information, 12.03.2012

Filed under: Brazil, Data Management, Data Vendor, Reference Data, , , , , , , ,

Latin America: Investor News Letter 18 January 2013

Mexico
Mexican Peso Slides on Carstens Hint at Interest-Rate ReductionMexico’s peso fell the most in four weeks after central bankers signaled that a further slowdown in inflation could prompt them to lower interest rates.
Nieto seeks to open Mexican energy sector
Los Tres Amigos: Positioning Your Portfolio In Mexican Peso Denominated Deb
Most U.S. funds missed Mexico gains, Brazil drop in 2012
Japanese investments in Mexico steady
Region completes work on international infrastructure project with Mexico

Brazil
Brazil’s Real Declines on Inflow Concern; Swap Rates Climb
Brazil: Daylight piracy
“SQUEEGEE merchants of the seas”: that is the nickname shipping companies have bestowed on the pilots who guide ships into Brazilian ports. Their legal monopoly and unregulated fees place them among the country’s highest earners: 150,000 reais ($73,500) a month, estimates the shipowners’ association. It costs twice the OECD average to import a container to Brazil, says the World Bank—and since that excludes bribes and fees for go-betweens, the true figure is surely greater.
Brazil Seeks Private Partners to Operate Rio de Janeiro, Belo Horizonte Airports
Brazil announces regional airport infrastructure investment plans
Brazil aviation faces turbulence after rapid ascent
Brazil ports starved of investment, buried in red tape-group
Guyana, Brazil sign on to infrastructure plan
Brazilian municipality of São Bernardo do Campo to improve sustainable urban mobility with loan from IDB

Latin America
Argentina: Tax & Estate Planning
Argentina rapidly changing oil/gas industry levies to attract foreign investment
Bolivia takes over Spanish-owned Iberdrola energy suppliers
Colombia: ANI to launch four new public infrastructure concessions valued at US$1.95bn
Colombian Peso Advances on Foreign Investment Outlook
Chile: First Solar Stakes Claim in Latin America
Peru’s investment opportunities attracts Qatar’s firms Peru: Infrastructure gap put at $88bn
Peru-based AFPs invest over US$3.5bln in infrastructure
Cement Industry Figures In Peru: Btg Pactual Begins Coverage Of Cpac With A Buy Recommendation
Peru to invest over US$701mln in access infrastructure projects
Peru: Ezentis shifts focus to Latin America, helped by $64M Telefónica Peru contract
Peruvian entrepreneurs expect investment to continue growing in 2013
Venezuela: What Hugo Chavez’s Illness Means for Venezuelan Mining

Latin America and Caribbean PhotoVoltaic Demand Growing 45% Annually Out To 2017 
Latin American ports record strong performance in 2012
South America: A Powerhouse, Not a Circus
10 Latin American startups to look out for in 2013

Filed under: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Energy & Environment, Japan, Latin America, Mexico, News, Peru, Risk Management, Venezuela, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Latin America: Investor News Letter 14 December 2012

Mexcio

With a little help from my friends; Mexico´s new Government
The rise of Mexico The US needs to look again at it´s increasingly important neigbour
Mexico’s New President Offers Much to U.S. Investors
Macquarie Mexico IPO Offers REIT Where Murder Reigned
Thor Urbana Capital Launches $500M Investment in Mexico
HSBC became bank to drug cartels, pays big for lapses
Pemex Sues Siemens Claiming Bribery in Refinery Project
How to Invest in Mexico
Peru, Chile and Mexico are Societe Generale’s favourites for LatAm investments Cemex crumbles and Latin America starts to look weak
 
Brazil
Brazil stimulates construction to spur economy
Deutsche Bank Reduces Investment Bank, Research Teams in Brazil
Brazil Subsidizes Uncertain Shipyard Success
Rousseff Seeks Investment From Spain
Alstom handed Sao Paulo infrastructure contract
GE to Build Oil, Gas Facility at LLX’s Brazil Acu Port
New trains for World Cup host cities
Brazil´s Ceará to receive $66.5 million IDB loan to improve urban infrastructure and business environment

Latin America

LatAm Wealth Management Overview
The world has gotten wealthier, but not the whole world. The engine of growth for private wealth is by far the emerging markets such as LatAm and, particularly, East Asia ex-Japan, which is outpacing the rest of the world by a long shot …

South American airports need more investment: ALTA head
Can South America Become the New European Union?
IDB Approves $153 Million in Loans to Set Up IDB-China Eximbank Equity Investment Platform

Argentina

Argentina May Abandon International Court, Treaties Over Debt Ruling
Argentina raising energy tariffs to fund investment
Argentina’s YPF buys majority stake in natgas distributor

Chile

Chile approves Endesa 740 MW coal-powered project

Colombia

Colombia is Fast Becoming a Rising Oil Giant in Latin America
Southern Cross Group Invests in Sociedad Portuaria Regional de Barranquilla (Columbia)
Holcim to double capacity in Colombia by building new US$600mn cement plant
As Panama Canal expands, Latin America rushes to be ready
Embezzlement stalling Colombia’s infrastructure development: Minister
Infrastructure in Colombia

Peru

Peru Is Clear Investment Destination In Latin America: Minister
Peruvian ports in peril?
 
FiNETIK News Summarier, 14.12.2012

Filed under: Argentina, Brazil, Central America, Chile, Colombia, Energy & Environment, Latin America, Mexico, News, Peru, Risk Management, Wealth Management, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Latin America: Investor News Letter 17 November 2012

Mexico

Slim Acquires Controlling Stake in Real Oviedo, El Pais Reports

Billionaire Carlos Slim agreed to invest 2 million euros ($2.5 million) to acquire a controlling stake in Spain’s soccer team Real Oviedo, newspaper El Pais reported today.

Mexico lawmaker introduces bill to legalize marijuana
Sherwin-Williams to buy Mexico’s Comex for $2.34 billion
Mexico Third-Quarter GDP Rose at Slowest Pace in Over Year
Cemex Latam Falls in Bogota After $1.14 Billion Initial Sale
Mexican banks invest domestically
Mexico: Investors’ New China
TransCanada to build, operate Mexican natural gas pipeline; will invest US$1B

 

Brazil

Top names drop off list of Thyssen Americas bidders

FRANKFURT – Several top steelmakers are sitting out ThyssenKrupp’s auction of its U.S. and Brazilian mills and there appears little interest in the latter, suggesting the German firm may fall well short of its $9 billion asking price.

Eletrobras to take over bankrupt Brazil power utility
Cuba opens sugar sector to foreign management
Microsoft’s investment in Brazil to spur Rio research boom-execs
Telecom Italia looking at GVT, other opportunities
Wuhan Steel shelves plans to build Brazil mill
A new wave of Brazilian infrastructure investment
Brazil’s Itaqui port plans $3.2 billion upgrade
Rio Olympics, World Cup at risk with royalty bill, governor warns

 

Latin America

Paving the Way  High-­Tech Financial Infrastructure Hits LatAm

Foreign market leaders such as Fidessa, Direct Edge and Navatar are challenging local providers in the race to meet the booming region’s needs. The growth in size and sophistication of LatAm capital markets has both fueled and been fueled by the implementation of high-tech financial infrastructure in the region, as the hardware and software that have  been the foundation …

 Latin American yields fall further in a warning to bond investors
Impoverished Iberians, booming Latin America eye new relations
Africa and Latin America Still Fight Vulture Funds
More LatAm ETFs Your Broker Forgot to Mention
UN asks LatAm firms to grow with social responsibility
Private Equity Lures Pensioners as Bond Yields Sink
Argentina’s Debt Restructuring Argument Could Be Very Significant For The Global Economy
Argentina’s YPF 3rd-Quarter Profit Down 51% on Year at $159 Million
Bolivia Returns to the Global Bond Market
Chile pension fund-ordered estimate lowers Endesa Latam asset value
Chilean regulator to put new limits on pension fund investments
Germany’s Solarstrom enters Latin America with 2MW in Chile
Colombia opens criminal probe into Interbolsa collapse
Colombia’s Interbolsa brokerage to be liquidated
Public-Private Partnerships in Colombia: Scaling-up Results
Paraguay, Worst LatAm Economic Result of 2012
Peru May Invest About $5.2 Billion in Water, Wastewater Projects
Aeropuertos del Peru mulling over opportunities in Brazil and Chile
Overseeing Peru’s international appeal at ProInversión

Filed under: Argentina, Banking, Brazil, Chile, China, Colombia, Energy & Environment, Latin America, Mexico, Peru, Risk Management, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Latin America: Investor News Letter 2 November 2012

MEXICO

Mexico 2013 inflation view steady despite price spike
Credit Suisse Raises $420 Million to Create Mexico Fund
Mexico: Big investment for citrus producers
Indigenous Groups Protest Mexico’s Biggest Wind-Energy Project
FOX BUSINESS – Mexican fishermen and indigenous groups from the southern state of Oaxaca protested Wednesday in front of the Mexico City offices of participants in a wind-energy project that would be one of the largest ever in Latin America, targeting Coca-Cola bottler and convenience-store operator Femsa (FMX), the Inter-American Development Bank and the Danish government, among others.

BRAZIL

The Brazilian Law on Money Laundering
Precautions Investors Must Take when Investing in Brazil. Brazil has recently altered its money laundering law. The new bill has tightened the government’s grip on most of the investment operations and has significantly broadened financial institutions’ and investment brokers’ duties to report suspicious activities …

ThyssenKrupp Brazil mill fined for pollution, could face closure
The long, brutal haul from farm to port in Brazil
Brazil hit by new blackout, infrastructure in spotlight
Brazil Gives Tax Exemption to Foreign Mortgage Investors
Brazil Power Generators Ask to Renew 106 of 123 Concessions

LATIN AMERICA

Private Aviation takes off in Latin America
The growth of private wealth in LatAm has led to a rise in demand for private aircraft and private aviation services. For the region’s mounting numbers of high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth individuals, a plane can be purely a luxury item, of course; but for increasingly global and mobile professionals and business owners, it meets a demand unsatisfied by local transportation alternatives, as well .

Colombia Regulators Seize Interbolsa Brokerage on Funding

Colombia’s financial regulators seized Interbolsa SA’s brokerage, the country’s largest, after the company said it faces a “temporary” funding shortage.

 Latin America stocks rise on China, U.S. data
20 Latin American in the World’s 200 Richest People
Argentina bonds close lower after S&P downgrade
Argentina Plans Regulatory Overhaul to Spur Investments
Increase in pension fund investments makes for headwinds in Andean market
Colombia Equity Fund targets European countries for distribution
Protests in Peru Scaring Off Mining Investment, Government Responds With Social Programs
Honduran supreme court rejects idea of building independently governed ‘model cities’
CAF and OFIC ink agreement to promote energy efficiency projects in Latin America
Modern airport terminal to be opened in Bogota
IDB approves $200m financing for Latin America hydro plant

Filed under: Argentina, Asia, Banking, Brazil, Central America, Chile, Colombia, Latin America, Mexico, News, Peru, Risk Management, Wealth Management, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

News and updates on LEI standard progress and development

As a follow up on G20 acceptance in Los Cabos in July 2012 and the Financial Stability Board guidelines and recommendations of the Legal Entity Identifier  LEI, we will regularly update this post with news and article to provide an overview of  LEI standard progress and development.

 
First Published  13.07.2012 , Last Update 27.09.2012

Filed under: Data Vendor, Data Management, Reference Data, Standards, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Nyse Technologies, Bolsa Mexicana and ATG build Mexican trading infrastructure

Nyse Technologies, the commercial technology division of Nyse Euronext (NYX: NYX) today announced that in collaboration with Bolsa Mexicana de Valores (BMV) and Americas Trading Group (ATG) it has built and deployed a state-of-the-art trading infrastructure complete with global connectivity, risk management functionality and direct market data distribution for customers trading in Mexican markets.

Designed to support the launch of Bolsa Mexicana’s new matching engine and midpoint hidden order book, this solution incorporates advanced technology developed specifically for every part of the trade cycle to provide unprecedented accessibility, performance and risk management for trading on Bolsa Mexicana’s exchanges with the aim of establishing Mexico as a premier Latin American investment destination.

Initially, this collaboration will provide:
• A new co-location model for access to cash and derivatives markets (through ATG directly at the KIO Data Center)
• Global connectivity for buy side, sell side and vendors from the US, Europe, Asia and also other Latin American markets such as Brazil and Chile.
• Sophisticated risk management functionality for international order routing (solution implemented by NYSE Technologies)
• Low touch order stamping by Bolsa Mexicana’s members to settle orders
• Global Market Data distribution via NYSE Technologies Secure Financial Transaction Infrastructure (SFTI) with direct contracting with BMV

“We are excited to again work with one of Latin America’s leading market operators in Bolsa Mexicana and market participants in ATG to deliver dramatic improvements across critical elements of the trade cycle,” said Dominique Cerruti, NYSE Technologies. “By continuing to improve access to key Latin American exchanges and customers, we continue to realize our vision of creating a global capital markets community with cutting-edge connectivity, performance and risk management.”

“Today’s announcement with NYSE Technologies and ATG demonstrates our ongoing commitment to grow and enhance our markets in Mexico to deliver highly flexible multi-market, multi-asset trading,” said Jorge Alegria, Head of Market Operations, Bolsa Mexicana de Valores. “We look forward to extending our relationship and cooperation with NYSE Technologies in several important areas that will f further expand that growth and performance in the near future.”

Source: FinExtra, 18.10.2012

Filed under: Asia, BMV - Mexico, Chile, Colombia, Data Management, Data Vendor, Latin America, Market Data, Mexico, Risk Management, Trading Technology, , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

What’s Wrong With The Global Banking System

Robert Mazur, the U.S. Customs special agent who led one of the most successful undercover operations in U.S. law enforcement history, gave us some insight into international money laundering and said the Federal Reserve needs to do more to help.

In the 1980s Mazur spent five years infiltrating the highest circles of Colombia’s drug cartels as a money launderer, transforming more than $34 million in cocaine cash into traceable, paper-trailed bank transactions under the pseudonym Bob L. Musella.

His book, The Infiltrator: My Secret Life Inside the Dirty Banks Behind Pablo Escobar’s Medellín Cartel, explains how “Operation C-Chase” led to the indictment of 85 individuals – including several officials affiliated with the then-seventh largest privately-held bank in the world, the Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI)—and the conviction of General Manuel Noriega.

Now he is on a mission to “share information with the public about how this money laundering activity has engulfed the will of the financial institutions of the world.”

Mazur says that “the international community is today doing the same thing that BCCI and their officers were doing 20 years ago”—citing the HSBC money-laundering scandal and the tax havens of the super-rich—and told BI that the problem is much larger than the estimated $2.1 trillion that crime generates each year.

“What [the corrupt bankers at BCCI] did was market flight capital, and they identified it as basically money seeking secrecy from governments,” Mazur said. “Yes it does include the items that the $2.1 trillion identifies but it’s bigger than that because there are times that you take legal money and use it for an illegal purpose, and that money is as big if not bigger than the illegal money.”

He calls the practice “a major moneymaker for the banking world” and cites the Standard Chartered scandal, in which bankers “took $250 billion worth of basically legal money and used techniques to hide from governments the fact that the money was being moved in these otherwise-legal transactions on the behalf of sanctioned nations, including Iran.”

He said the HSBC ruling listed six or seven methods “traditionally used by banks in a big way facilitate relationships with people who want to hide money from governments” and explained that bankers provide these services “to entice these people to bank with them” so that the bank is able to increase their deposits.

Mazur said that banking regulators are “not as focused on the issue of criminal conduct as they are on … making sure that the institution itself stays healthy” so investigations take years and result in a lengthy report.

There’s nothing built in the system to engage criminal investigations up front,” Mazur said.” They always come in a very rusty state after they’ve been played with by the regulators. By then everyone’s built in their plausible deniability and it’s a very difficult task to expect the investigators to then come up with the intent evidence,” which is essential for criminal prosecution.

He added that the current regulatory process ignores the fundamental problem, which is that “there are two brains in a bank—there’s this profit brain that’s motivated by earning money … and then we have a compliance department and their whole agenda has nothing to do with profit, it has to do with identifying risk and minimizing it. But when the compliance and the sales brain meet, upper management sides with sales because that’s their gig too—profits. And there has to be a way to try to begin to change that chemistry of the interaction of the two brains.”

One straightforward ways to do that, according to Mazur, would be to crack down on bankers who solicit shady business—like the ones at HSBC—by putting a few “behind bars for a very long period of time” instead of just giving them a fine.

Another simple way is to require the Federal Reserve to share information about member banks who are in the bulk bank note business. If regulators and prosecutors knew which institutions were moving much larger amounts of money through wire transfers (which the Fed tracks), they would know where to focus investigations or covert-type operations.

“You’re honing down all your information to go after, proactively, the institutions most involved in moving this type of money,” Mazur said. “It’s not complicated but the Federal Reserve doesn’t give that information out freely and that’s something that needs to change.”

He noted that concerned individuals in the military, law enforcement and intelligence community have accessed more of that information in the last 2 years than ever before, but emphasized that more has to be done.

“That’s one of the barriers that’s slowly crumbling, and it’s an important barrier to wind up crumbling, but it’s not completely accessed,” Mazur said.

Filed under: Banking, Colombia, Latin America, Mexico, Risk Management, , , , , , , , , , , ,

Latin America: Investors Newsletter 31 August 2012

Mexico

Analysis: Spanish cloud may mean discount for Santander Mexico listing
Mexico Pension funds hungry for Santander unit offering
Colombia Considering Move From Brazil’s to Mexico’s IMF Group
Delta Repair Center With Aeromexico to Boost Aerospace Hub in Queretaro
Brazil

Fitch says Brazil’s infrastructure plan as execution risk
SEC Charges Brokers for Defrauding Brazilian Public Pension Funds
Will increased stimulus for Brazilian transport infrastructure be sufficient?
Brazil’s BES Investment Bank Focuses on Infrastructure
Canadian pension funds cautious on Brazilian infrastructure plan

Latin America

Colombia Brags of Overtaking Argentina as Echeverry Eyes IMF Job
Colombia-led Group to Build $396 Million Peru Highway
Ferrovial sells BAA stake to fund Latin America push
Is Venezuela about to open up to foreign oil investment?
Investment insights from a Peruvian beach
YPF chief promises to protect foreign oil companies’ profits if they invest in Argentina

See also LIQ Latin America Infrastructure ALI Alternative Latin Investor  or MercoPress more information about Latin America

Filed under: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Latin America, Mexico, News, Peru, Venezuela, , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Latin America: Investors Newsletter 19 August 2012

Mexico

Diageo May Buy Jose Cuervo for $3 Billion, Sunday Times Reports
Mexico Ousts Brazil as Investors’ Top Choice in Latin America
Santander Bank’s Mexican unit files for U.S. IPO

Brazil

Overpriced Brazil to Be Profitable for Latam

Latin America and Asia

LatAm and Asia form bright spots for CitiIndia seeks to deepen trade ties with LatAm, Caribbean nationsChina to boost ties with Latin AmericaSpanish Companies Need Latin America For Economic ExpansionNo substitute for domestic strength in Latin AmericaIndia’s trade with Latin America may touch $50 billion by 2014

See also LIQ Latin America Infrastructure ALI Alternative Latin Investor  or MercoPress more information about Latin America.

Filed under: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, China, Colombia, India, Japan, Latin America, Mexico, News, Peru, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Finamex: It’s a Fine Time to Cross the Border – Mexico the Emerged Market of Growth

In January of this year the theme of emerging markets became more of a primary investment rather than that of an alternative one. Many people ventured toward countries that have had rocket high growth over the last few years such as the BRIC countries of Brazil, Russia, India and China which received the preponderance of excitement in the emerging market approach.

Read full article Mexico the Growth Market

Today, the BRIC countries have been challenged to maintain upward momentum. The simmering down of the American market crisis and the expanding concerns for the Eurozone present a dilemma and are showing the effects. The Institute of International Finance (IIF), a global association of financial institutions, says that “net private capital flows to emerging market economies remain quite volatile and subject to disturbance from the euro area”. According to the research, data capital flows fell in 2011 to $1.03 trillion from $1.09 trillion in 2010 and are expected to fall again this year to $912 billion before rising to $994 billion in 2013.

The woes of the Eurozone monetary crisis have influenced investors to move money out of country and to seek safe haven in securities markets elsewhere. Brazil, Indonesia, China as well as others are no longer experiencing upward momentum and are now even in decline or negative.

However year after year, analysts continue to see strong signs of growth and long term prosperity in Mexico as many of the emerging markets troubles are not being seen in Mexico, in fact quite the opposite.

Brazil with its lucrative energy industry capitalized by the largest South American exchange, has attracted many investors to seek opportunities in Latin America. Brazil has enjoyed the influx of foreign investments and has gone further to encourage more interest from the North by recently lowering some of its staggeringly high tax penalties on returns and additionally allowing the shares of foreign instruments to take more of a part in portfolios of its domestic shareholders. “Investors are more cautious with Brazil,” Gustavo Mendonca, an economist with Oren Investimentos in Sao Paulo said this week. “The country has slowed very sharply and the prospects for long-term growth have gone downhill.”

Policy adjustments invite and attract investments, but many of these actions are late and under pressure by issues developing in other countries such as Spain. On the other hand, the opportunities for a rudimental Northern investor looking South of the Border to Mexico remain solid.

A key factor with Mexico is that it has  some of the most definitive metrics that provide the level of transparency needed in a volatile global market.  Unlike Brazil, Russia, India or China, Mexico is directly tied to American monetary policy with a correlation that does not exist in other Emerging Market countries and not surprisingly is also growing alongside the American economy.

Is Mexico beyond ridicule and examination? Of course not, but to begin to understand the benefits of investing in Mexico for the short and the long term we should begin with how Mexico plays a key role as a member of NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement). The implementation of NAFTA along with close inter-country relationships, ties Mexico’s trade and currency valuation to that of the US and Canada.

 For example, in 2010 many believed the US would remain flat for the next two years, but we now see this was not the case. As a result of American performance, Mexico’s markets have also increased working in parallel a framework portfolio managers find affirmative Mexico has also maintained a weak peso over the last ten years. The Mexican peso has been priced at a competitive advantage with China.

 Currency rates have helped Mexico realize an economic boom that continues to rise since the 90’s. The move to NAFTA in 1994 could be the key contributing factor for Mexico’s 600 percent increase in sales to the US. With inflation no longer under control in countries like China and  Brazil, analysts are discovering that Mexico’s policies have proven successful in weathering many global financial catastrophes.

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As opportunities within the developed markets diminish, the Mexican marketplace is standing strong. As a top emerging market for the global investing community, particularly in Latin America, Mexico represents a substantial alternative to Brazil, home of the leading Latin American stock market. Mexico, although not a BRIC country, certainly has more promising economic stability and growth potential than some of the most mature economies. With a clear goal in sight, the local markets in Mexico continue to take measures that enhance liquidity in equities and derivatives trading which provide surety to its financial institutions and reach more investors abroad.

Source: FINAMEX /Dan Watkins, 01.08.2012  dwatkins@cc-speed.com

Filed under: Asia, BMV - Mexico, Brazil, China, Exchanges, Latin America, Mexico, News, Trading Technology, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

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