The Bankers' Club.A few pan-regional financial leaders dominate the Top 100 Banks. LATIN AMERICAN BANKING LONG HAS BEEN DOMINATED BY A group of small, exclusive national clubs. Now membership is dwindling dwin·dle v. dwin·dled, dwin·dling, dwin·dles v.intr. To become gradually less until little remains. v.tr. To cause to dwindle. See Synonyms at decrease. to a few pan-regional leaders. Spain's Banco Santander Central Hispano and Banco Bilbao Vlzcaya Argentaria are buying market share, while Citibank, part of the Citigroup, and BankBoston, controlled by FleetBoston, are expanding their existing businesses to claim an increased share of the pie. These four banks now control some US$236 billion in assets, or 30% of the Top 100 Banks' $770 billion in assets. The recent dust-up in Mexico over the country's major banks reflects the Spaniards' hot pursuit of major properties. Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria took over Mexico's Grupo Financiero Bancomer to increase its Latin American assets to US$80 billion. Not to be outdone out·do tr.v. out·did , out·done , out·do·ing, out·does To do more or better than in performance or action. See Synonyms at excel. , Banco Santander acquired Grupo Financiero Serfin to retain regional leadership with $85 billion in assets. At the close of this issue, Santander was rumored close to sealing a deal for Banco Caracas. If executed, the arrangement would make Santander market leader in Venezuela ahead of Bilbao Vizcaya. U.S. banks have stayed in the running by focusing on wealthy Latin Americans This is a list of notable Latin American people. In alphabetical order within categories. Actors
The remaining major private Latin American banks are under enormous pressure to grow. Banco Nacional Banco Nacional was a bank from Brazil. It was taken over by Unibanco in 1995. The Nacional brand is better known as main sponsor of Ayrton Senna during most of his racing career in Formula 1 (1985-1994). de Mexico (Banamex) narrowly lost in its bid for Bancomer to protect its turf from the Spanish invasion. Argentina's Banco de Galicia y Buenos Aires Buenos Aires (bwā`nəs ī`rēz, âr`ēz, Span. bwā`nōs ī`rās), city and federal district (1991 pop. may need to seek acquisitions too, as its 12% growth to $13 billion in assets is too slow for the current environment. The devaluation devaluation, decreasing the value of one nation's currency relative to gold or the currencies of other nations. It is usually undertaken as a means of correcting a deficit in the balance of payments. of the Brazilian real The real (IPA: [xe'aw] or [ʁe'aɫ], symbol: R$, ISO 4217 code: BRL, plural: reais) is the currency of Brazil. It is also the name of the earliest Brazilian currency (see from the Colonial period to 1942. at the start of 1999 reduced the asset base of Brazilian banks in dollar terms across the board, but Banco Bradesco, Banco Itau and Unibanco face a major challenge with the privatization privatization: see nationalization. privatization Transfer of government services or assets to the private sector. State-owned assets may be sold to private owners, or statutory restrictions on competition between privately and publicly owned of Banco do Estado de Sao Paulo (Banespa). The sale will almost certainly spur another round of mergers and acquisitions in the market. Will being the biggest equate with being the best? Not necessarily. Banco Itau and Banamex generated, respectively, net income of $1 billion and $792 million last year-- more profits than the $728 million posted by Santander's much larger regional operations. Nonetheless, these institutions will have to acquire competitors or risk becoming acquisition targets themselves. |
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