Good, better, best.

Separating the best from the merely good in banking is a tough task. For the first-ever LATIN TRADE ranking of best banks in Latin America, we treated each country as an individual ranking. They should be viewed and understood in that sense. Although it would be ideal to say that one bank is the "best in Latin America," reporting standards in the region do not allow for a blanket rating.

Increasing cross-border trade and ownership will promote uniformity in banking regulations someday, to the advantage of Latin America's increasingly multinational corporate borrowers. But we're not there yet.

Efficiency ratings are measured differently from country to country, but the goal is the same in each group, to show how effectively bank heads are doing their jobs. There were some close calls--ties between banks in Mexico and in Peru. It should also be noted that each of the country short lists were generated from much longer lists, of between 15 and 34 banks, excluding Brazil.

Brazil's Central Bank does not publish results of the institutions it monitors. Instead, we relied on a detailed examination by international consultancy Austin Asis. Their ranking for Brazil does not place the banks in order; instead, each bank is rated No. 1 in its segment of the market.

As of December 31, 2002

                                      PROFITABILITY      EFFICIENCY (1)
CHILE                               ROA          ROE

1 JP Morgan Chase Bank              7.08%       44.18%       0.98%
2 Deutsche Bank                     2.65        18.32        0.93
3 ABN Amro Bank                     3.06        16.37        2.36
4 HSBC Bank                         2.06        17.15        2.19
5 Banco Bice                        1.41        18.16        1.76

                                      PROFITABILITY      EFFICIENCY (2)
COLOMBIA                            ROA          ROE

1 Superbanco                        4.88        30.42       66.03
2 Banco de Bogota                   2.78        21.19       54.47
3 BankBoston                        4.17        18.28       46.84
4 Banco Agrario de Colombia         2.03        25.86       66.25
5 Banco de Occidente                2.23        18.67       61.08

MEXICO                                PROFITABILITY      EFFICIENCY (3)
                                    ROA          ROE

1 I.N.G. Bank                       2.14        37.43        0.79
2 JP Morgan Bank                    2.84        25.90        1.40
3 Banco Santander Mexicano          2.50        31.67        3.64
4 Deutsche Bank                     1.23         9.57        1.25
5 American Express                  7.98        54.63       21.81
5 BBVA Bancomer                     1.51        14.40        4.15

                                      PROFITABILITY      EFFICIENCY (4)
PERU                                ROA          ROE

1 Banco Continental                 0.87        10.37        3.26
2 Banco de Credito del Peru         1.15        11.44        4.63
3 Mibanco                           5.01        22.77       18.37
3 Banco Santander Central Hispano   0.73        13.85        5.02
4 Banco del Trabajo                 3.42        30.96       18.90
5 BankBoston                        0.47         6.08        2.48
5 Citibank                          1.56         9.75        5.50

                                      PROFITABILITY      EFFICIENCY (5)
VENEZUELA                           ROA          ROE

1 Eurobanco                        20.74        34.30        7.03
2 Banco Venezolano de Credito      14.29        68.57       12.67
3 Banco Galicia de Venezuela       15.92        20.66       13.23
4 Banco Exterior                   11.70        74.44       12.12
5 Banco Standard Chartered          9.49        20.79       10.15

BRAZIL                         PROFITABILITY   LIQUIDITY   EFFICIENCY

Corporate: Banco Votorantim         25.0        170.7        24.3
Retail: Bradesco                    18.7         89.4        62.2
State-owned: Banco do Brasil        22.1         33.9        77.0
Consumer Finance: Banco BMG         28.2         61.4        33.7
Middle Market: Banco Santos         23.5         98.7        50.8

ROA= return on assets ROE= return on equity

(1) Operating costs/Total assets (2) Operating costs/Gross
financial margins (3) Annualized quarterly admin. costs/Average
total assets (4) Administrative costs/Productive assets
(5) (Payroll + Operating costs)/Average productive assets

SOURCE: Austin Asis, Banking authorities of Colombia, Chile, Peru,
Mexico, Venezuela, LATIN TRADE