* Banco BradescoSA plans to follow in the footsteps of other large Brazilian banksby creating a divisionresponsible for supporting debt restructuring efforts by companies in order toreduce their chances of bankruptcy, Bloomberg News reported, citing ananonymous Bradesco official.

MEXICOAND CENTRAL AMERICA

*Fitch Ratings withdrew Balboa Bank & Trust Corp.'s ratings due to a lack ofinformation after Panamanian banking regulator SBP suspended the bank's operationsin May due to alleged links to a money laundering network. The bank's long- andshort-term ratings were placed at D(pan) prior to the withdrawal.

*Banco Sabadell SA Institucion DeBanca Multiple has issued 23.50 billion Mexican pesos of loansin Mexico since it began operating in the country in January, El Economista reported.

* Effortsin Mexico to increase the presenceof banking correspondents in the county's rural areas have largely failed, El Economista reported, citing afinancial inclusion policy document from the federal government.

BRAZIL

* NewYork-based Goldman Sachs GroupInc. has reached an agreement to invest600 million Brazilian reais into Brazilian storage firm Metrofit during thenext six years, Reuters reported, citing Luiz Augusto do Amaral, CEO ofBrazilian real estate company TRX. Metrofit is a joint venture between TRX andU.S.-based Metro Self Storage.

* Federalpolice in Brazil arresteda 12th person suspected of involvement in an alleged plot to carry outterrorist attacks during the Olympic Games scheduled to begin in Rio de Janeiroin August, The Wall Street Journalreported. The person was the last man being pursued by local authorities forallegedly plotting attacks during the games.

*Caixa EconômicaFederal plans to make available at least 10 billion Brazilian reaisof loansfor the construction industry in a bid to stimulate activity in the sector, Diário Comércio Indústria & Serviçosreported.

*Banco do Brasil SAwill have to pay 4.7 billion Brazilian reais to renewits banking services partnership with Brazilian postal service Correios, Valor Econômico reported. Thepartnership expires at the end of 2016, and the two parties reportedly disagreeon its business value.

* Theeconomics institute of the Getulio Vargas Foundation said predictionsthat Brazil's economy is recovering from recession are premature, Valor Econômico reported.

* Brazil'sgovernment has tapped 16.5 billion Brazilian reais of its reservesto make up for a shortfall in its budget, ValorEconômico reported, citing an official fiscal report.

* Brazilianstate development bank BancoNacional de Desenvolvimento Econômico e Social approved terms for loans it willextend to energy companies that participate in auctions to build transmissionlines in the country, Reuters reported. The bank will provide loans for between50% and 70% of the capital requirements for each project, with repaymentperiods of up to 14 years.

* Thegovernment of the Brazilian state of Rio de Janeiro is looking to hire BancoNacional de Desenvolvimento Econômico e Social to aid in the planned privatizationof water company Cedae, Diário ComércioIndústria & Serviços reported.

*Itaú Unibanco HoldingSA will launch a new creditcard in partnership with MasterCard Inc. in the first quarter of 2017, or earlyin the second quarter at the latest, Estadãoreported.

ANDEAN

* JLTRe, the reinsurance unit of London-based Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group Plc, has Olsa Re's portfolio in Peru. OlsaRe is a Peruvian reinsurance broker that also has clients in Colombia, Ecuadorand Costa Rica. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

* FitchRatings downgradedColombia's long-term local currency issuer default rating to BBB from BBB+ andrevised the outlook on the country's ratings to negative from stable.Colombia's current account deficit reached 6.4% of GDP in 2015, which makes thecountry more vulnerable to changes in investor sentiment and external financingconditions.

* Loan delinquenciesfor Peruvian banks increased by 0.18 percentage point year over year to reach2.87% in June, El Comercio reported,citing local banking association Asbanc.

SOUTHERNCONE

* Banco Central de laRepública Argentina is now allowing Argentine banks to offer theircustomers the optionto repatriate undeclared funds through online banking services, Cronista reported.

* Competition is intensifying between Argentine banks to attract clientsthat have higher purchasing power, especially in light of 's ongoing sale processto divest its retail banking operations in the country, La Nación reported.

* More than 50,000 Chileans took to the streets July 24 to denouncethe country's private pension funds, or AFPs, and ask the government to managethe AFPs directly, Pulso reported.

* Agustín Antón, president of BBVA Paraguay SA, said he expects Paraguay's financialsector to continue expanding,even amid slower economic growth, as new sectors of the population start usingfinancial services, La Naciónreported.

PANLATIN AMERICA

* Fitch Ratings applied revised criteria to conduct aglobal review of the notching relationship between sovereign long-term localcurrency and foreign currency issuer default ratings. As a result of thereview, Fitch has downgraded 23 long-term local currency ratings, upgradedeight short-term foreign currency ratings, and downgraded one short-termforeign currency rating.

* Consistent net outflows on a global scale from traditional activelymanaged mutual funds into lower-fee passive investment products are accelerating,resulting in an impact on the credit profiles of asset managers, according toMoody's. Persistent underperformance of traditional active management and newregulations are key drivers of the shift in assets to lower cost, passiveproducts.

IN OTHERPARTS OF THE WORLD

*Asia-Pacific: CCB injects capitalinto New Zealand unit; Fosun's Ironshore files for IPO

* MiddleEast & Africa: BLOM BANKconfirms HSBC talks; concerns about nonperforming insider loans inNigeria

* Europe:HSBC acts on RWAs; BBVA planslayoffs; Bank Asya loses license

* NorthAmerica: First Hawaiian IPOpegged at $3B-$4B; 2 Tenn. banks to merge

MatthewCraze contributed to this article.

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