* Manuel Medina Mora will step down as chairman of both andsubsidiary Banco Nacional deMéxico SA in mid-November. Valentín Díez Morodo will take over aschairman at Grupo Financiero Banamex, while Enrique Luis Castillo SánchezMejorada will become Banamex's chairman.

MEXICOAND CENTRAL AMERICA

* Financialinclusion survey data showed that 33.6 million adults in Mexico had a bankaccount as of July 2015, up from 25 million three years earlier. However, as El Economista reported,authorities are concerned with finding showing that nearly half of thoseaccounts are inactive as consumers continue to rely on cash transactions andthe informal financial sector.

* An IMFdirector said Mexico will continue to grow at a moderatepace until it reaches 3% growth, largely on the expansion of Mexico'sfinancial sector, according to ElEconomista. For 2016, the IMF revised Mexico's economic growth estimatedownward to 2.4% from 2.5%.

* Duringthe first half of 2016, Mexico's national housing commission, Conavi, issued4.87 billion pesos in subsidiesfor housing, or 53% of the total budgeted for the year, El Economista reported.

CARIBBEAN

* A group of bondholders have sued Puerto Rico for allegedlybreaching the newly passed PROMESA, which places the commonwealth's financesunder federal watch, Reuters reported.The newswire calls the move the "opening salvo in what is likely to be acontentious, months-long restructuring process in Puerto Rico."

BRAZIL

* Aslargely anticipated, BancoCentral do Brasil's monetary policy committee unanimously decidedJuly 20 to maintainits benchmark Selic rate at 14.25%. In doing so, the regulator said that whileeconomic indicators released since the last meeting showed signs of short-termstabilization, there is also evidence of economic idling.

* Bank branches in Rio de Janeiro will be closed on threedays due to the Olympic Games next month, Brazil's banking federation,Febraban, announced.Banks in the host city will close on Aug. 5, Aug. 18 and Aug. 22, all whichhave been declared as municipal holidays.

* Porto Capital, the investment fund of insurer , plans to investin 15 companies over the next five years, DiárioComércio Indústria & Serviços reported citing fund manager FedericoMesnik. The fund, which was launched with 400 million Brazilian reais, willsubsequently look to grow the companies in which it invests before shifting toan exit strategy.

* Subsidies issued by Brazil's Fundo de Garantia do Tempo deServiço reached 10.5 billion reais in 2015, the highest amount in its history, Diário Comércio Indústria & Serviçosreported.Subsidies issued by FGTS should be even higher in 2016 due to an ongoing investmentin a housing fund.

SOUTHERNCONE

* BTG PactualGroup appointed Juan Guillermo Agüero to be the newCEO of BTG Pactual ChileSpA, Pulso reported.Agüero, who is the current director of corporate finance, will replaceAlejandro Montero, who was named co-CEO of BTG Pactual Latin America alongsideRódrigo Goes. Guillermo Ortiz, meanwhile, was named president of BTG PactualLatin America, excluding Brazil.

* Chile's senate approved a law allowing non-banking entities to issue pre-paidcards, and the measure is now being evaluated by the Chamber of Deputies, Diario Financiero reported. In this nextstep, the debate will likely focus on whether the central bank has the capabilitiesto monitor the new pre-paid cards, as well as the possibility that Chile'smetro operator will become a pre-paid card issuer.

PAN LATINAMERICA

* Total emerging and frontier market externaldebt jumped to $8.2 trillion at year-end 2015 from $3.0 trillion in 2005, abuild-up that is making some economies "increasingly vulnerable toexternal shocks," according to Moody's. Brazil and Mexico had thefastest-growing external debt volumes in Latin America, the rating agency said.

* Natural disasters caused global economic losses of $98 billion and global insured lossesof $30 billion during the first half of 2016, making it the costliest firsthalf since 2011, according to Aon Benfield's Impact Forecasting. Earthquakeswere the costliest disaster category in terms of economic losses for the periodat $34 billion, while severe convective storms generated the highest insuredlosses at $12.3 billion.

IN OTHERPARTS OF THE WORLD

Asia-Pacific: Chinese firms to bid on ING Life Korea; SBI, Brookfield AssetManagement to form JV

Middle East & Africa: Iran seeks bond market return; Bank of Mauritius cuts rate;Mashreqbank Q2 profit down YOY

Europe: EBA'sMREL study results; Swedbank, Danske post Q2 results; S&P cutsTurkey

NorthAmerica: BNY Mellon in earningsspotlight; Yadkin, FNB reportedly in M&A talks

PaulaMejia contributed to this article.

TheDaily Dose has an editorial deadline of 8 a.m. São Paulo time, and scans newssources published in English, Portuguese and Spanish. Some external links mayrequire a subscription.