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Panama lands on EU blacklist; Banorte shareholders OK Interacciones deal

* Panama's government expressed its "overwhelming" rejection of a European Union decision to include the country on a blacklist of 17 tax havens, El Capital Financiero reported. The government said it has adopted international commitments in "record time" and has made considerable progress to meet global standards on fighting tax evasion.

* Grupo Financiero Banorte SAB de CV said its shareholders approved the company's planned acquisition of Grupo Financiero Interacciones SAB de CV. The cash-and-stock deal is still subject to applicable regulatory approvals.

MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA

* FCA Compañía Financiera SA will auction simple, nonconvertible negotiable obligations for up to 300.0 million Mexican pesos, expandable up to 500.0 million pesos, on Dec. 12. The class XIV notes will have a term of 24 months and carry a variable rate.

* Banco Crédito Agrícola de Cartago said it will carry out a repurchase by reverse auction of its series E1 and F22 bonds worth about 6.81 billion Costa Rican colones. The repurchase will happen Dec. 7.

* Honduran presidential challenger Salvador Nasralla, who claims to be the winner of Honduras' disputed election, has asked the electoral court to hold a full recount or stage a second-round runoff to determine the real winner, the Financial Times reported. Nasralla's request for a full recount or runoff is a step up from his Opposition Alliance Against Dictatorship party's previous call to revise 5,000 tally sheets.

* Mexico's Senate passed a bill to regulate the country's financial technology industry, including crowdfunding and cryptocurrency firms, Reuters reported. The bill is expected to get final approval from the lower house by Dec. 15, "three sources familiar with the measure" said.

BRAZIL

* S&P Global Ratings downgraded Banco Pine SA's long-term global scale rating to B- from B+ and long-term national scale rating to brBB- from brBBB+, citing deterioration in the bank's operating revenue. The lender's stand-alone credit profile was also lowered to "b-" from "b+."

* Lower interest rates and pressure on Brazilian insurance companies' financial gains should lead them to be less aggressive on policy prices in 2018, Reuters reported, citing Sul América SA CEO Gabriel Portella.

* Banco Bradesco SA launched a 3 billion reais working capital credit line for micro and small companies, Valor Econômico reported.

* Banco Pan SA secured a court injunction requiring the Brazilian state of Tocantins to pay the bank 20 million reais within five days, Valor Econômico reported. The state's government had reportedly retained payroll loan installments due to the bank.

* Itaú Unibanco Holding SA said it priced an offering of perpetual Tier 1 subordinated notes in the aggregate principal amount of $1.25 billion. The bank will issue the notes Dec. 12 at a fixed rate of 6.125%.

ANDEAN

* Banco Colpatria Multibanca Colpatria SA on Dec. 5 placed the first batch of its seventh issue of subordinated bonds for a total of 125.00 billion Colombian pesos. The series FS notes have a term of 10 years.

* The Venezuelan government said holding presidential elections in 2018 is contingent on the lifting of sanctions imposed by the U.S. and other nations, Bloomberg News reported. The Venezuelan constitution requires presidential elections to be held every six years, but authorities have not yet announced a date for the 2018 vote, despite demands from opposition legislators that a detailed electoral calendar be published.

* Investors and technical experts believe that the "petro," a new cryptocurrency Venezuela plans to launch, will struggle with the same credibility issues that trouble the country's socialist government, Reuters reported.

* Peru has been included on a European Union "grey list" of countries that need to implement tax reforms by the end of 2018 in order to avoid being defined as tax havens by the bloc, El Comercio reported.

SOUTHERN CONE

* Bank of Nova Scotia expects to spend up to C$280 million for the merger of Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria Chile SA and its local subsidiary, Scotiabank Chile, Gestión reported. The Canadian bank provided the estimate after disclosing that Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA accepted its offer to acquire the Spanish lender's 68.19% stake in BBVA Chile for about US$22.2 billion.

* Argentina's government appointed Mariana Haydee Triaca and Diego Gustavo Dequino as directors at state-run Banco de la Nación Argentina. The appointments follow the departure of three directors in October.

* BNP Paribas Cardif Seguros Generales SA said Marcos Peñailillo submitted his resignation as deputy CEO, effective Feb. 1, 2018. Peñailillo will assume new responsibilities within the BNP Paribas Cardif group.

* Argentina's government reached an agreement with another group of holdout creditors, settling their lawsuits against the country over defaulted debt for about $3 million, La Nación reported.

* Banco de la República Oriental del Uruguay said it would not dismantle its Mercado Modelo branch as long as members of the AEBU banking union end their sit-in protest at the location, El País reported. The bank also promised to negotiate with union representatives over five more branches that have been earmarked for reduced operating hours.

* Paraguay's economy grew 3.0% in the third quarter year over year, driven by a strong performance in the agricultural sector, La Nación reported, citing central bank data.

* José Said, the chairman of Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria Chile SA, could retain that position once the bank is merged with Bank of Nova Scotia's Chilean unit, Pulso and Diario Financiero reported. The Said family, which is expected to invest up to $500 million to own up to 25% of the combined business, said details of their association with Scotiabank will be clarified in the days ahead.

IN OTHER PARTS OF THE WORLD

* Middle East & Africa: Global sukuk market seen to grow; Access Bank Ghana to raise capital

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 a.m. São Paulo time, and scans news sources published in English, Portuguese and Spanish. Some external links may require a subscription.