* U.K.-based financial services firm Old Mutual Plc said it reached a deal to sell its Latin American operations to Singapore-based financial holding company CMIG International. The operations include Old Mutual Colombia, Old Mutual Mexico and Aiva. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
* Grupo Aval Acciones y Valores SA booked net income attributable to owners of the parent company of 466.7 billion Colombian pesos in the fourth quarter of 2017, up 1.8% from 458.4 billion pesos in the year-ago period. The company's net interest income jumped 15.0% year over year, but net trading income fell 24.8%.
MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA
* Mexican Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo called for a swift renegotiation of the NAFTA trade pact, saying that Mexico and Canada should be prepared for the possibility of the U.S. pulling out of the agreement, Reuters reported.
* New financial technology products and services could help Mexican sofipos, or popular finance companies, reduce their operating expenses and improve profitability, El Economista reported, citing Alan Elizondo, the Mexican central bank's director of financial affairs.
* Brazilian technology company Movile has invested $18.3 million in financial technology firm Zoop with plans to turn Zoop into the leading payment platform in Latin America, Reuters reported.
* Germany's Deutsche Bank AG appointed Maite Leite president of its Brazilian operations, replacing Renato Grelle, who was in the position for less than two years, Valor Econômico reported.
* The new digital bank being developed by Banco BTG Pactual SA Chairman Marcelo Kalim and other executives will be called C6Bank, an anonymous source told Valor Econômico. A previous report in Bloomberg News said Kalim will gradually shed his holdings in BTG and ultimately relinquish the chairman role in order to form his own bank.
* Banco Mizuho do Brasil SA is altering its business strategy to place a greater focus on serving large companies and increasing its cross-selling of financial products, Valor Econômico reported.
* Following a two-year decline, corporate lending in Brazil increased 10.4% in 2017 from the previous year, Valor Econômico reported, citing central bank data.
ANDEAN
* Peru's Congress voted to start impeachment proceedings against President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski over allegations that he lied about his connections to construction firm Odebrecht, which is at the center of a wide-ranging corruption scandal. Kuczynski will be invited to Congress on March 22 to offer a defense, Bloomberg News reported, citing local cable news channel Canal N.
* Financiera Oh! S.A. said it plans to place certificates of deposit worth 70 million Peruvian soles, although it could expand the offering to up to 100 million soles. The series B notes will be issued on March 22 and mature on March 17, 2019.
* Bancolombia SA plans to spend some 400 billion Colombian pesos in 2018 to improve its operations, service, security, product design and digitization. The bank said it will invest about 320 billion pesos of the total on "new projects and experiences" in Colombia, while the balance will go to its operations in Panama, El Salvador and Guatemala.
SOUTHERN CONE
* Chilena Consolidada Seguros de Vida SA said it is in talks to purchase EuroAmerica Seguros de Vida SA's insurance portfolio and financial assets under management. The two companies have signed a confidentiality agreement for the potential deal.
* Banco Nacional de Fomento said it opened a new branch in the Paraguayan town of La Paloma del Espíritu Santo, located in the department of Canindeyú.
* Itaú CorpBanca said it will propose to shareholders a dividend distribution of 22.98 billion Chilean pesos, equivalent to 4.48 centavos per share. The total payment represents 40% of the company's profits for 2017.
* Fitch Ratings said it expects Chile to post GDP growth of 3.0% in 2018, higher than the 1.8% average it recorded from 2014 to 2017. However, new Chilean President Sebastián Piñera will face challenges in passing reforms that support growth due to a lack of legislative majority and a more divided party composition in congress.
* Argentina's government recorded a 20.2 billion Argentine pesos primary fiscal deficit in February, down 24.4% from the same month a year ago, Reuters reported, citing the Treasury Ministry.
* Argentina's new $26 billion public-private partnership program could rejuvenate large-scale infrastructure investments in the country, Moody's said. Investments under the program will probably be financed by a combination of bank debt and bond issuance in the local and international capital markets, according to the rating agency.
* Columbus Merchant Banking and Zuma Advisors SA, two small investment banks based in Argentina, have merged to form a new company called Columbus Zuma, Clarín reported. The merged company has around 30 employees.
* Argentina's central bank is waiting for the country's financial technology sector to develop further before it formulates regulations for the industry, La Nación reported, citing central bank Vice President Lucas Llach. He also said the central bank is working to allow greater interconnectivity between clients of banks and fintech firms, El Cronista reported.
* Argentina's central bank issued a resolution allowing banks to offer WiFi internet and other services at their branches, El Cronista reported. The use of mobile phones and the provision of internet at bank branches were previously banned due to security concerns.
* Argentine stock exchange operator Bolsas y Mercados Argentinos SA, or BYMA, is seeking approval from the country's central bank to launch a new wholesale bank in 2018, El Cronista reported.
* Chile's Grupo Security SA said it placed a bond in the local market worth 1.5 million unidad de fomento, which is Chile's inflation-indexed unit commonly known as UF, Diario Financiero reported. Demand for the 25-year bond reached 1.8x the offered amount.
* Banco Internacional SA said it plans to create an asset management company and an insurance brokerage firm, Diario Financiero reported.
* Asia-Pacific: UBS merging Asia-Pacific units; Punjab National Bank detects more fraud
* Middle East & Africa: Saudi Arabia raises rates; Egypt's CI Capital to list shares on stock exchange
Helen Popper contributed to this article.
The Daily Dose has an editorial deadline of 8:00 a.m. São Paulo time, and scans news sources published in English, Portuguese and Spanish. Some external links may require a subscription.
