Editor's note: Thepublication of this feature was delayed due to technical issues.
* BancoNacional de Desenvolvimento Econômico e Social posted a netprofit of 6.18 billion Brazilian reais in 2017, down from 6.39 billionreais earned in 2016.
* Sura Asset Management SA said it has set up a new unitin Mexico, called NBM Innova SA de CV, to serve as an investment vehicle forprojects in the country, La Repúblicareported.
MEXICO AND CENTRALAMERICA
* Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca said it is closingdown due to reputational and economic damage caused by its role in theglobal tax evasion scandal that ensued following the "Panama Papers"leak, Reuters reported. The firm said it will continue to cooperate withauthorities.
* Banco deCosta Rica said it is launching legal proceedingsagainst Océanica de Seguros to seek the payment of a $20.5 million insuranceclaim related to loans the bank granted to cement company Sinocem, La Nación reported.
* BancoCompartamos SA Institución de Banca Múltiple CEO Patricio Diez saidshifting from a traditional business model to a digital model is a key challengefor the Mexican bank as it caters to a lot of low-income clients in ruralareas, El Economista reported.
* Mexican banks belonging to local banking industryassociation ABM have signed an inspection protocol with the Labor Ministry inorder to ensure compliancewith employment standards, El Economistareported.
* Premiums in Panama's insurance industry grew5.4% in 2017 from the previous year, marking the sector's strongest performancein the last three years, El CapitalFinanciero reported, citing local insurance industry association Apadea.
BRAZIL
* Brazilian antitrust regulator Cade , with restrictions, 'sacquisition of a 49.9% stake in the brokerage firm . An agreementsigned between Cade and the two companies is valid until Dec. 31, 2022, afterwhich the regulator will again review Itaú's possible purchase of a controllingstake in XP.
* Sofisa Direto, a fully digital bank based in Brazil, haslaunched a bankdeposit service allowing account holders to make deposits without payinginterbank transfer fees, InfoMoney reported.
* Banco Nacional de Desenvolvimento Econômico e Social CEOPaulo Rabello de Castro deniedspeculation that the bank's investment arm is in talks to sell its stake inmeatpacker JBS SA to foreign investors, Reuters reported. Sources told thenewswire that the investment arm will decide whether to sellits 29% stake in pulpmaker Fibria SA by the end of next week.
* The FGTS workers severance fund in Brazil is studyingmeasures to reformits operating rules to allow private banks to conduct lending operations usingresources from the fund, Valor Econômicoreported.
* Brazilian securities commission CVM imposed a fineof about 2.4 million reais on Paiffer Management Ltda. and one of the company'spartners over "spoofing" offenses, Folha de S.Paulo reported. The company plans to appeal the decision.
ANDEAN
* Banco DeDesarrollo De América Latina has signed an with Panama's government toprovide the country with funding for a seven-year agricultural project costing$557 million, El Capital Financieroreported.
* Peruvian Vice President Martin Vizcarra will notresign to allow for early elections if President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski isousted from office through an impeachment vote, Reuters reported, citing twoanonymous sources. Opposition legislators are looking to remove Kuczynski overallegations that he lied about his connections to scandal-plagued constructionfirm Odebrecht, which is at the center of a wide-ranging corruption probe.
SOUTHERN CONE
* Argentina's GDP should expandbetween 0.5% and 1% in the first quarter from the linked quarter and grow 3%compared to a year earlier, Reuters reported, citing Treasury official LucianoCohan. However, a severe drought will probably impact GDP growth for full year2018, which the official forecasts at close to 3%.
* Argentina's capital markets reform law will be delayedby a few weeks because amendments made to the legislation in the Senate must bereviewed again in the lower house, ElCronista reported.
* Argentina's government is swappingabout 16.68 billion Argentine pesos of 2019 bonds that were placed directlywith state-run Banco de la NaciónArgentina for new paper maturing in 2021, El Cronista reported.
* Chile's government appointedJoaquín Cortez as the new chairman of its recently formed Financial MarketCommission, replacing Carlos Pavez, Pulsoreported.
PAN LATIN AMERICA
* Deutsche BankAG said it hired bankers to help strengthen its business cateringto affluent Latin American clients, Bloomberg News reported.Jorge Rodriguez Garcia was hired as head of its Latin America team forSwitzerland, while Roberto Teofilo joins the bank as a Miami-based director andrelationship manager covering Brazilian ultra-high-net-worth clients. RicardoPablos Rodrigues was tapped as a relationship manager for Brazilian clients.
Helen Poppercontributed to this article.
The Daily Dose has aneditorial deadline of 8:00 a.m. São Paulo time, and scans news sourcespublished in English, Portuguese and Spanish. Some external links may require asubscription.
