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Brazil court denies Lula plea to stay out of jail; Sul América names new VP

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Brazil court denies Lula plea to stay out of jail; Sul América names new VP

* Brazil's Superior Court of Justice, the country's top appellate court, denied former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's petition to not be imprisoned on a corruption conviction, Reuters reported. The same conviction would block him from running for president in the October elections. However, a survey released March 6 said Lula may win the presidential polls if allowed to run.

* Brazilian insurer Sul América SA appointed André Lauzana commercial vice president, replacing Matias Ávila.

MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA

* The deputy general manager of finance and administration of Mexico's Consubanco SA Institución de Banca Múltiple, Arturo Avalos Favela, left the company. The bank said it would announce his replacement in the near future.

* S&P Global Ratings likewise affirmed Consubanco's long-term global scale issuer credit rating at BB- and withdrew it upon the issuer's request.

* Mexico's seasonally adjusted consumer confidence for February was up 6.4% year over year, but was down 0.6% from January 2018, Reuters reported, citing the country's national statistics agency.

* Fitch Ratings said despite economic uncertainties linked to the NAFTA talks and rising inflation, Mexican banks posted solid results in 2017, with the ratio of operating profitability to risk-weighted assets standing at 3.2% in the year, compared to the 2.5% average seen from 2014 to 2016. Hikes in the target interest rate also led to better net interest margins, which in turn benefited Mexican banks' profitability.

* Mexico's banking system has too many banks, and small and medium-sized banks need to consolidate to ensure profitability for shareholders of such banks, BBVA Bancomer SA Institución de Banca Múltiple Grupo Financiero BBVA Bancomer CEO Eduardo Osuna told El Economista.

* Mexican lawmakers called on the country's CNBV banking industry regulator and the Condusef consumer defense body to ensure banks do everything possible to avoid unauthorized or fraudulent payments linked to direct debits, El Economista reported.

* South Korea's Shinhan Bank Co. Ltd. opened a branch in Mexico on March 6, according to Yonhap News Agency. The bank will have a primary focus on South Korean companies in Mexico for a few years, before expanding to local companies.

* Mexican Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo said that Mexico, Canada and the U.S. must maintain a trilateral trade agreement amid talks to rework the NAFTA, as opposed to the possibility of bilateral deals between trade partners, Reuters reported.

* Fitch Ratings believes the success of El Salvador's main opposition party, the ARENA, in recent legislative and municipal elections could tighten the gridlock between the presidency and the opposition-dominated legislature in the short term. However, if an ARENA presidential candidate wins in the 2019 elections, the recent legislative elections could improve the country's policymaking climate and the passage of debt financing over the medium term, as it signifies "the first time in decades the government would not face an opposition party veto in the legislature to authorize debt financing."

* Former Banco BAC San José SA Chief Executive Gerardo Corrales is to join the economic team of Costa Rican presidential candidate Fabricio Alvarado, El Financiero reported.

BRAZIL

* Economists polled by Reuters forecast that consumer price inflation in Brazil was up about 2.85% for the year through February, slightly below the 2.86% rate through the end of January.

* Brazil's central bank has signed a two-year cooperation accord with credit information company SPC Brasil to produce new indicators and data about retail credit access and financial education among consumers, Diário Comércio Indústria & Serviços reported.

* The percentage of Brazilian households that are in debt was almost unchanged in February from the previous month at 61.2%, 0.1% lower than during January, Diário Comércio Indústria & Serviços reported, citing the latest Peic survey carried out by the CNC trade and commerce confederation.

* Banco Nacional de Desenvolvimento Econômico e Social said it would increase financing terms for infrastructure projects to 34 years from the current 20-year term, reduce spreads for priority initiatives and raise the maximum for banks' participation, Reuters reported. The changes follow the introduction in January of the development bank's new Long Term Rate.

* Brazilian savings accounts registered a net withdrawal in February for a second consecutive month, according to central bank data, Valor Econômico reported. Net withdrawals totaled 708.1 million reais last month, down from 1.67 billion reais during the same month in 2017.

ANDEAN

* Venezuelan Vice President Tareck El Aissami said the country will open its new petro cryptocurrency on the Dicom foreign exchange for foreign companies in a few weeks' time, Reuters reported. Venezuela had held a private sale to investors in February.

* Maria Elsa Viteri, who previously served as Ecuador's finance minister from 2008 until 2010 under former President Rafael Correa, was again named to the position by President Lenin Moreno, Reuters reported. Viteri will replace Carlos de la Torre, after the latter announced his resignation.

* Hugo Wiener, a former board chairman of Peru's Banco Agropecuario, blamed the bank's current and the past president for its troubles, SEMANAeconómica reported. Wiener accused Agrobanco's incumbent president, Jane Montero, and former head Richard Hale, of squandering recapitalization funds. Wiener also said both leaders lacked a plan for the bank, which has a default rate at least 11 times higher than the rest of the Peruvian financial system.

* Credit card spending in Colombia rose 9% in 2017 from the previous year to 67.500 trillion pesos, Portafolio reported, citing the latest data from the financial regulator. The average transaction was 194,000 pesos, slightly down from the average in 2016.

* Colombian lenders disbursed 1.760 trillion pesos in personal loans during November 2017, with Banco Falabella SA showing the biggest annual increase in its credit portfolio for the segment, Portafolio reported, citing data from the financial regulator.

SOUTHERN CONE

* The board of Tarjeta Naranja SA has approved the issuance of class XL negotiable obligations for up to 2.00 billion Argentine pesos, though the issue date has yet to be announced. The notes, which are not convertible into shares, will accrue at either a fixed or variable interest rate, or a combination of both. The bank also did not specify the maturity of the debt.

* The Finance Committee of the Chilean Senate has recommended that the full house approve Alberto Naudon's nomination as the fifth board member of the central bank, Pulso reported. Meanwhile, the publication said Claudio Soto, Sergio Lehmann and Elias Albani were tipped to replace Naudon in his current job as the central bank's head of research.

PAN LATIN AMERICA

* After six consecutive years of increases, business failures in Latin America are expected to stabilize in 2018 as economic recovery accelerates and fiscal conditions improve, credit insurance company Euler Hermes said in its Annual Global Insolvencies Index. Worldwide, business insolvencies are set to decline by about 1% in 2017, but firms will fail at higher rates in China and the U.K.

IN OTHER PARTS OF THE WORLD

* Asia-Pacific: China to cut banks' provision ratio; Aussie bank begins talks for NZ unit sale

S&P Global Ratings and S&P Global Market Intelligence are owned by S&P Global Inc.

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.