• Businesses expected to cut costs significantly in response to economic headwinds
Latin American & Caribbean banking, financial services, investment & insurance news
Eva Mitchell Promoted To CEO Of Trinidad & Tobago Stock Exchange
Mitchell's career spans two decades across the financial services sector, including experience at leading multinational financial services organizations. She has held various management positions and has extensive knowledge and experience in the areas of finance, asset management, retail and commercial banking and brokerage services.
RBC Sells Off Eastern Caribbean Banking Operations
The sale includes RBC's 11 branches in Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, Montserrat, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
US DFC Approves $2.1 Billion USD in Global Development Investments
More than 65% of DFC’s capital approved this quarter will be deployed to low and lower-middle income countries, and fragile states. Many of the investments approved this quarter advance DFC’s 2X Women’s Initiative, Portfolio for Impact and Innovation (PI2), Health and Prosperity Initiative, and Connect Africa initiative as well as the Administration’s Prosper Africa and América Crece initiatives.
Global Infrastructure Partners Closes 2 Funds WIth $2.8 Billion USD In Capital
GIP CAPS II has closed on aggregate Limited Partner commitments of $1.4 billion and GIP Spectrum has closed on aggregate Limited Partner commitments of $1.4 billion. The funds' diversified investor base includes public and private pension plans, sovereign wealth funds, insurance companies, financial institutions, asset managers, endowments and high net worth individuals located across North America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East.
Fitch Sees Rising Latin American Debt Defaults
The number of defaults in 2020 is on pace to exceed that of 2019 with indications there will be more to follow, given 6 group-level defaults YTD compared with 6 in all of 2019, and the high number of ratings at ‘CCC’ or below categories.
Fitch Is Bearish On Several Latin American Insurance Carriers
Over the past five weeks, Fitch Ratings has conducted ...
Even Without Infections, Fitch Says Coronavirus Threatens Caribbean & LatAm Economies
Sovereign and corporate issuers in Latin America will be adversely affected by slower Chinese demand and commodity price weakness caused by coronavirus due to high commodity export dependence and direct trade exposure to China, says Fitch Ratings.
Arthur J. Gallagher Takes Controlling Stake In Trinidad Insurance Broker Risk Management Services
Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE: AJG) has acquired ...
Seedstars Global Emerging Market Startup Event To Take Place March 30-April 3 In Switzerland
The 7th edition of the Seedstars Summit event, Seedstars 2020 will occur in Lausanne, Switzerland from March 30 to April 3rd, 2020.
LatAm Countries Not Well Positioned To Withstand Next Recession Says Fitch Ratings
Growth in public debt burdens and fiscal deficits in ...
BlackRock’s Rick Rieder Insists A Recession is Still Unlikely
SUBMITTED OPINION–Today’s payroll report printed a bit weaker than ...
Everest Group Shows How Banks Can Leverage Technology To Deliver Superior Banking Experiences
Banking is in dire need of transformation. Some banks ...
Scotiabank Sells US Virgin Island, Puerto Rico Operations to OFG Bancorp Subsidiary Oriental Bank
FG Bancorp (NYSE: OFG) and Scotiabank (NYSE: BNS) have ...
Finance TnT To Participate In GFC Media’s Project Finance & Capital Markets Symposium In Miami
Hosted by GFC Media Group, Project Finance & Capital ...
Standard Bank Designates Amazon AWS As Its Preferred Cloud Provider
Yesterday, Amazon Web Services, Inc. (AWS) (NASDAQ: AMZN), announced that Standard Bank ...
World Economic Forum and Industry Experts Publish Guidelines for Data Usage in Financial Services
“An uncoordinated proliferation of global data frameworks may prove counterproductive in the long run," says Matthew Blake of the WEF.
OAS Partners with Stakeholders in Colombia, Chile to Strengthen Financial Sector Cybersecurity in Latin America
The Organization of American States (OAS) partnered with both Asobancaria in Colombia and the government of Chile to strengthen cybersecurity.
Social Investment Startup Impak Finance Closes on $1.1 Million Investment
"Business as a force for good, an alternative to the traditional way of doing business, has increasingly been gaining ground worldwide," said Paul Allard, CEO of Impak Finance.
PayPal, Visa, Capital One, Barclays Named Financial Services Brands of the Year for 2018
In this year’s Harris Poll study, more than 77,000 Americans were polled in an extensive survey to determine the highest-rated brands in the United States.
PayPal Acquires Payments Processing Firm iZettle for $2.2 Billion USD
iZettle is targeted at small businesses and holds card payment processing market share in Europe and Latin America.
ION Investment Group Acquires Trading and Risk Management Solutions Firm Openlink Financial
ION Investment Group has signed an agreement to acquire trading and risk management solutions company Openlink Financial LLC from Hellman & Friedman.
SWIFT Transaction Leads to Money Laundering Charges Linked to Drug Trafficking Ring
Colombian authorities believe that Nieto is linked to a large drug-trafficking network that has been operating for more than a decade.
Stephen Bagnarol Takes Over as Scotiabank Head in Trinidad and Tobago
Stephen Bagnarol took over as the managing director of Scotiabank Trinidad and Tobago Limited last week.
RPA in Action: Innovative Ways Five Financial Services Companies Are Using Automation
Companies are seeing that RPA saves time and money while reducing errors and creating opportunities. "We see this more as a highway for growth," says Juan Felipe Giraldo of Bancolombia.
Verisk Analytics Acquires U.K. Insurance Software Provider Sequel for $325 Million USD
The Jersey City-based company said in a statement that it expects the transaction to be finalized in the third quarter this year.
Chile’s Banco Falabella Looks to Improve Customer Service with ‘Sofia’ AI Chatbot
Banco Falabella says its new artificial intelligence technology will drastically cut customer service times through Facebook chat.
New Visa Ready Program Aims to Improve Ease of B2B Payments
“B2B payments innovation has been fueled by businesses always looking to simplify complexities," said Vicky Bindra of Visa.
Bank of America Will Search for Automation-Based Cost-Cutting Even After Hitting Its Spending Goals
"How much technology can we do that replaces people?" said Tom Montag, COO of Bank of America, at a conference this week.
SWIFT Launches Customizable Fraud Prevention Service
SWIFT's chairman calls the service "a direct response to our community’s request for additional services to complement and strengthen existing fraud controls."
Bank of America Named Global Bank of the Year for Payments and Collections
Bank of American was honored by Treasury Management International for its "commitment to innovations that are driving a change in client behavior and opportunity."
New Report Highlights Five Ways to Improve Customer Experience in Banking
"How customer insight is used can make a big difference to the customer experience — and ultimately to the profitability of the organization," states the report.
MVB Bank Chooses Jack Henry Banking’s SilverLake Automation System
The bank chose this platform to improve its customer service, manage vendors, and implement other complementary solutions.
Introductory Credit Card APR Average Hits New High of 15.29% After Fed Rate Hike
"Citi bumped the APRs on its card offers by 0.25%, causing the national average APR to rise to an all-time high."
Bank Closings Continue to Sweep the United Kingdom
More than 1,000 bank branches have been shuttered in the past two years, with HSBC closing 27% of its branches and Lloyds closing 14%.
President Trump Could Quickly Dismantle $1.7 Billion USD in Dodd-Frank Regulations
"Repealing the last $1.9 billion in Dodd-Frank from the Obama administration might be the first step for Congress in a more comprehensive overhaul of the law."
Budding Accountants Are Worried Automation Will Steal Their Jobs
Nearly three-fourths of those looking to enter the accounting field are concerned that automation will make their jobs obsolete.
How to Protect Your Financial Data on Black Friday and Cyber Monday
No deal is worth it if the transaction leads to some cyber-thief in Russia emptying your bank account a few hours later.
Q&A: How Unisys’ ClearPath Forward IT Platform Can Help Financial Firms
"Financial institutions that deal with hundreds of thousands of clients and huge money transactions daily can greatly benefit," says Marcel Valverde of Unisys.
KPMG and PwC Were Big Winners at Accounting Awards in London
Nearly three-fourths of CEOs believe that the next three years will be more critical for their industry than the previous 50.
Customer Service Is More Important Than Ever in an Era When Consumers Think Banks Don’t Care
"Succeeding in this new competitive landscape requires a rigorous focus on customer care," says Atul Garg of Protiviti.
BBVA and Amazon Web Services Sign Cloud Infrastructure Deal
BBVA is making AWS its "preferred" cloud infrastructure provider to help migrate its workflows to the provider's system.
Deloitte to Open Up $20 Million USD Regional Services Center in Mexico
Deloitte's $20 million investment in Querétaro, Mexico, will create one of its four major regional services centers.
Accenture Buys Allen International to Lead Banks in Digital Transformation
Accenture has bought a company that it believes can allow it to "help banks make the branch a physical manifestation of the digital experience."
Why Understanding the ‘Consumer’s Vision’ Is Now Critical to Financial Services
Consumer's vision is what allows a company to understand the deepest needs of the public.
Embarrassing Website Outage Ensnares Colombia’s Largest Bank
The downtime was reportedly due to Bancolombia's failure to renew a domain.
Lloyd’s of London Pulls in $1.9 Billion USD in Profits in First Half of 2016
"The U.K.’s referendum on its E.U. membership is a major issue for us to deal with," says Inga Beale, chief executive of Lloyd's of London.
Bonds Are On Pace for a Record Year
The current issuance rate is not only outpacing every year since the financial crisis — but it is besting the all-time high bond year of 2006.
Should Other Banks Be Worried About Elizabeth Warren’s Tough Talk Against Wells Fargo?
"We put industry clearly on notice," said Richard Cordray after CFPB's historic fine against Wells Fargo.
People Are Complaining About Their Banks Much More than Last Year
Compared to 2015, complaints related to bank accounts are up 26%, jumping to 2,400 complaints per month versus less than 1,900 last year.