26 Nov, 2021
Shareholders OK Banco Inter's US listing; El Salvador eyes bitcoin-backed bonds
By Steven Baria
Banco Inter's US moves
* Shareholders at Brazil's Banco Inter SA approved a proposed corporate reorganization aimed at transferring its listing to the Nasdaq from local bourse B3. More than 82% of shareholders approved the transfer.
* Banco Inter signed a merger agreement with U.S.-based financial technology company Pronto Money Transfer Inc., also known as USEND, as part of a strategy to expand to the U.S. The transaction's closing is subject to certain conditions, including regulatory approvals in Brazil and the U.S.
Crypto bits
* El Salvador looks to issue $1.00 billion in bitcoin-backed bonds next year, the country's latest move to attract cryptocurrency capital. The bonds will have a term of 10 years and a coupon of 6.5%. El Salvador is the first country to adopt bitcoin as a national currency.
* MercadoLibre Inc., Latin America's largest e-commerce platform, will allow its Brazilian customers to have cryptocurrency investments through their digital wallets. CEO Marcos Galperin said on Twitter that, as of this week, users in Brazil of both the e-commerce platform and its payments subsidiary, Mercado Pago, will be able to purchase, hold and sell cryptocurrencies.
In other news
* Argentine banking major Grupo Financiero Galicia SA expects no real growth in terms of loans next year, according to Pablo Eduardo Firvida, the bank's investor relations manager. Galicia forecasts both inflation and lending in pesos to grow at about 52% in 2022, Firvida said in a conference call discussing the bank's third-quarter results. "We are forecasting some additional percentage points growth for us to recover part of the market share in loans that we lost this year," the executive added.
* Banco Macro SA and Banco BBVA Argentina SA both posted lower third-quarter attributable net income compared to the year ago period. Banco Macro's net income slightly fell to 7.36 billion pesos from 7.37 billion pesos a year ago, while BBVA Argentina's declined 37.6% to 3.38 billion pesos.
* The board at Paraguay's central bank unanimously hiked its benchmark rate to 4.00% from 2.75% on price increases in food and energy commodities in international markets. The effects of these increases negatively influence medium-term inflation expectations, the central bank's board said.
* Argentina's central bank published rules restricting consumers' access to installment plans to pay for tourism abroad. It will also curb banks' net cash foreign-currency positions at the end of trading, effective Dec. 1.
* Mexico's President Andrés Manuel López Obrador nominated Victoria Rodríguez Ceja, who currently serves as undersecretary of expenditures at the ministry of finance, as the next governor of the country's central bank. The announcement came after news that López Obrador withdrew his nomination for Arturo Herrera, a former finance minister, as the next Banco de México chief. López Obrador assured that he will maintain the central bank's autonomy following markets' negative reaction to the nomination change. Rodríguez Ceja is viewed as a less familiar figure for investors and a public finance official with no monetary policy background.
Featured this week on S&P Capital IQ Pro
* Chile's fintech bill raises expectations for growth in the sector: Chile's fintech law would contribute "substantially" to growth in the industry, as well as boost startups' access to investor capital, Kevin Cowan, vice president of the country's Financial Market Commission told S&P Global Market Intelligence.
