Mindful of competition at home, Brazil’s newly minted banking behemoth is bolstering domestic business while readying a push overseas. Itaú Unibanco is poised to take on the world.
Category: 2009
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Best Bank Jamaica: Safe Deposits Haven
Jamaica may have been hard hit by the global recession, but that probably ended up benefitting Scotia’s operations on the tropical island.
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Best Local Investment Bank Brazil: Global Buildout
Itaú BBA’s expansion has happened at a steady clip over the past four years, and the shop poses an increasing threat to global powerhouses hoping to grab a slice of the Brazilian investment bank fee pool.
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Best Bank Puerto Rico: Reducing Risk
Oriental Financial Group may not be the largest player in Puerto Rico’s troubled banking sector, but by reducing exposure to consumer and mortgage loans, it emerges as the best of the worst.
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Best Bank Mexico: Capitalizing on Crisis
Since the collapse of Lehman, Mexican authorities have come out repeatedly to defend their nation’s banking system as competitive, profitable and well capitalized.
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Best Bank Bolivia: Still on Top
Banks operating in the smaller LatAm economies have hunkered down during the crisis and the pecking order has remained largely the same as a result. In Bolivia, the dominant bank remains Banco Mercantil Santa Cruz (BMSC).
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Best Bank Colombia: Extending Reach
Despite Colombia’s generally sturdy fundamentals during the financial crisis, its financial institutions have had to swallow their share of bitter cocktails, including isolated corporate derivative losses, toxic Lehman notes, Stanford fallout, and slowing exports to the US. An uptick in unemployment and slower economic growth also boosted defaults at the retail and corporate levels for all banks.
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Best Bank Trinidad & Tobago: Bailout Assistant
Not every bank is able to say it benefitted from assisting the government bail out troubled financial entities, but Trinidad & Tobago’s First Citizens Bank can.
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Best Local Investment Bank Colombia: Taking on the Big Boys
Bancolombia looms large in some of Colombia’s most important markets, including DCM and project finance advisory.
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Best Bank Uruguay: The Foreign Invasion
Uruguay’s banks have weathered the international financial storm well and the country’s economy is expected to grow by up to 2% this year.