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Honduran opposition bet leads in polls; Mexico finance minister set to quit

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Honduran opposition bet leads in polls; Mexico finance minister set to quit

* Honduran opposition presidential candidate Salvador Nasralla currently leads in the official count with 45.17% of the votes, while incumbent President Juan Orlando Hernandez has 40.21%, nearly 10 hours after voting closed, Reuters reported. As of press time, 57% of the ballots have been counted.

* Jose Antonio Meade is resigning as Mexico's finance minister today to declare his intention to run in the 2018 presidential elections, Reuters reported, citing "two people familiar with the matter." Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Meade said he was not aware of resignation plans.

MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA

* Mexico's GDP shrank 0.3% in real terms during the third quarter, compared to the 0.2% contraction previously estimated, according to national statistics agency INEGI. The quarter-over-quarter contraction follows a series of strong earthquakes in September, which prompted President Enrique Peña Nieto to call for a revision in the government's 2018 budget. However, compared to the third quarter of 2016, Mexico's economy grew 1.6%, INEGI said.

* CIBanco SA Institución de Banca Múltiple said it issued 25,520 series B stock certificates on Nov. 23 for a total of 63.8 million Mexican pesos. The company had planned to issue up to 32,000 certificates. CIBanco will look to offer the remaining 6,480 certificates during a cleanup period that runs through Nov. 27.

* Mexican central bank Chief Agustin Carstens described the peso as "undervalued in general terms" and that it should be trading between 17 pesos to 18 pesos to a U.S. dollar, Reuters reported. In the morning of Nov. 24, the peso traded at 18.6170 per dollar.

* Digital strategies of leading Mexican banks have increased, El Economista reported. Among the 18 million customers of BBVA Bancomer SA Institución de Banca Múltiple Grupo Financiero BBVA Bancomer, 4.8 million use digital services, up 32% from 2016. Banco Nacional de México SA Integrante del Grupo Financiero Banamex has seen annual growth in digital customer numbers of about 65% while Banco Santander (México) SA Institución de Banca Múltiple has reported 60% growth.

BRAZIL

* Banco do Brasil SA is planning to launch a digital account targeting the country's 5.8 million "micro-entrepreneurs," Folha de S.Paulo reported, citing a bank executive. The account, which will be similar to its Conta Facil product, is currently being tested and should be launched on Dec. 15.

* Brazilian central bank president Ilan Goldfajn wants reforms to the country's credit card sector to be implemented over the medium and long term to align it with international standards, Valor Econômico reported. One of the issues discussed is reducing payment terms for retailers from the current 30 days to two days.

* Banco do Brasil SA said it will make an interest on own capital payment worth about 230.0 million reais, or 8.259721710 centavos per share, tied to the fourth quarter. The payment will be made Dec. 28 to shareholders of record as of Dec. 11.

* Outstanding loans in Brazil's banking sector totaled 3.052 trillion reais in October, falling 1.4% from a year earlier but rising 0.1% compared to the previous month, according to data from Banco Central do Brasil. The sector's 90-day nonperforming loan ratio remained stable from the previous month at 3.6% in October, but was up by 30 basis points from October 2016.

* Brazilian central bank president, Ilan Goldfajn, said the monetary authority should focus more on generating competition in the banking industry to reduce spreads and charges rather than simply targeting concentration in the market, Valor Econômico reported.

ANDEAN

* Colombian central bank Banco de la República on Nov. 24 lowered its benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points to 4.75%, with five board members supporting the cut and the remaining two voting to keep it at 5%, citing growth in inflation to 4.05% in October, mainly due to a rise in food prices. Additionally, the central bank said it will only hold eight benchmark rate meetings in 2018 instead of monthly meetings, Reuters reported.

* Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro appointed National Guard Major General Manuel Quevedo as the country's new energy minister and president of state oil company PDVSA, Reuters reported. Separately, PDVSA said it is making late interest payments on its 2020 and 2022 bonds, which were due Oct. 27 and 28, the newswire wrote separately.

* Peru's economy grew 2.5% in the third quarter year over year, accelerating from the first half of the year when activity was hit by the fallout from the Lava Jato corruption scandal and the devastating El Niño flooding, El Comercio reported. Separately, Lima-based investment bank Credicorp Capital Peru S.A.A. said it was more optimistic about the outlook for GDP growth in 2018, the newspaper reported.

* The rate of dollarization in Peruvian car loans fell to 22% in October, down 7 percentage points year on year and 27 points less than two years ago, reflecting central bank policies aimed at promoting sol-denominated borrowing, Gestión reported, quoting the central bank. In a separate report, the Asbanc banking association said loans from private banks totaled 240.21 billion Peruvian soles at the end of October, with retail loans growing 5.49%.

* A study by Colombia's ANIF association of financial institutions has warned of looming credit risks that lenders should monitor closely to avert a further decline in portfolio quality, Portafolio reporting. It said sluggish economic growth and rising unemployment were worsening indebtedness among Colombian families, noting that households used 40% of disposable income to repay their debts.

SOUTHERN CONE

* Chile-based Banco Falabella said Gonzalo Smith Ferrer resigned as a director, effective Nov. 20, and Juan Carlos Guillermo Antúnez was appointed as Ferrer's replacement until the bank's next ordinary shareholders' meeting. Ferrer also resigned as director at Promotora CMR Falabella SA.

* Banco de la Nación Argentina has raised rates on all its credit lines by three percentage points, reflecting the central bank's recent hikes on the benchmark monetary policy rate, Javier González Fraga, the bank's president, told Clarín. Deposit rates have also risen. Both private and public banks were raising annual mortgage rates by as much as two percentage points, La Nación reported.

* Argentine banks, including Banco de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires and Banco de Galicia y Buenos Aires SA, are set to raise commissions from January 2018, reflecting persistent double-digit inflation, La Nación reported.

* Argentina's ADEBA banking association is urging the central bank to reduce the tax on credit card payments to match with charges faced by online payment processor Mercado Pago, El Cronista reported. Businesses are charged 5% when they receive payments via Mercado Pago than via bank-issued credit cards, where tax is at 9%.

* Jorge Polgar, the president of state-run Banco de la República Oriental del Uruguay, defended the bank's restructuring plan by citing scant commercial activity at five branches earmarked for reduced opening hours, El Observador reported. In a month, those five branches granted just 13 corporate loans and opened seven savings accounts. Not a single current account was opened.

* Paraguay's economy should grow at an annual rate of about 4% in the coming years, with credit for consumption, manufacturing and farming all expected to expand, according to chairman and chief executive of BBVA Paraguay SA, Agustín Antón, La Nación reported.

IN OTHER PARTS OF THE WORLD

* Asia-Pacific: Merger talks between Australian super funds fail; S&P maintains India's ratings

* Middle East & Africa: S&P downgrades South Africa; Trade Bank of Iraq eyes Saudi, UAE expansion

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.