* Grupo Financiero BanorteSAB de CV posted asecond-quarter net profit of 4.63 billion Mexican pesos for the second quarter,up 16% from 4.00 billion pesos earned a year earlier. The increase came as thecompany saw a 9% rise in net interest income and a 16% jump in non-interestincome. The company's main operating subsidiary, , contributed 3.10 billion pesos to the group's quarterlyprofit, up 38% from 2.24 billion pesos a year ago.

* Meanwhile, GrupoFinanciero Banamex SA de CV posted a net profit of 4.51 billion pesos for the secondquarter of 2016, down 31% year over year. The company noted that year-agoresults were skewed by the sale of its merchant acquiring business to EVOPayments International. Excluding gains from that sale, second-quarter netincome grew 2% year over year, the company said.

MEXICOAND CENTRAL AMERICA

*Banorte CEO Marcos Ramírez Miguel said that the bank supportsa new law on financial discipline for states and municipalities, according to El Economista. As one of the leading banksthat lends to states and municipalities in Mexico, Banorte is in favor of allmeasures that support transparency, he reportedly said.

* BanamexCEO Ernesto Torres Cantú was quotedby El Economista as saying that thebank is still optimistic about Mexico's economic performance, estimating thatGDP will grow 2.1% this year. The executive also downplayedthe impact that a Donald Trump presidency in the United States would have ontrade between Mexico and its northern neighbor.

* Mexico'ssecurities and banking commission, the CNBV, expects to publish newrules to manage the microfinance sector by the end of 2016, El Economista cited Marco Antonio LópezPérez, an executive at the regulator, as saying. The regulation is intended toprovide financial intermediaries with clear costs on products and allow them todevelop new offerings in the space.

* Sofom IONFinanciera issued 50 million Mexican pesos in bonds under a 200 million pesoprogram in order to meet short-term financing needs, El Financiero reported.The issuance is mortgage-focused Sofom's first debt placement. Chairman JoséShabot Cherem said that the company is considering using capital markets in theyears ahead.

*BBVA Bancomer SAreceived 53.4 million Mexican pesos in claims tied to its mobile banking application during thefirst quarter of 2016, Reformareported, citing data from Condusef. The number of claims against the bank'smobile service soared 1,566% year over year to 4,742 between January and March,which BBVA Bancomer attributed to criminal use of clients' personal data andsecurity pins.

CARIBBEAN

* Eric Garcia, a former director of Curaçao-based , was arrestedon charges that he embezzled over $10 million, the Curaçao Chronicle reported.

BRAZIL

*Brazil's largest listed banks July 21 saw the in share price decline in amonth as concerns strengthened regarding the finances of corruption-entangledengineering group OdebrechtSA and talks of bankruptcy surfaced, Reuters reported. Odebrecht ina statement denied that it will pursue an in-court reorganization, whileBrazilian banks are receiving restructuring requests for problematic loans.

* Brazil'smajor banks are expected to report lower profits for the second quarter on theback of rising default and slower lending, ValorEconômico reported.Banco do Brasil SA,Itaú Unibanco HoldingSA, Banco BradescoSA and BancoSantander (Brasil) SA are expected to show profits totaling 12.66billion reais for the period, 17.6% lower than in the year-ago period.Meanwhile, analysts expect BTGPactual Group to report second-quarter net income littlechanged from the first quarter, with estimates from two firms varying froma 0.5% decline to a 1% increase.

* Althoughanalysts expect the next months to be challenging, they agree that Brazilianbanks may begin to see a turnaroundin 2017, Valor Econômico reportedseparately.

* Consumerloan demand in Brazildropped 8.9% year over year during the first half of 2016, according to datafrom credit research firm Boa Vista SCPC. In June, credit requests fromindividuals were down 3% from the previous month and down 8.2% annually.

* Brazil onJuly 21 launched a30-year global bond offering worth $1.5 billion as the country looked to takeadvantage of growing investor optimism for the country and wider flows intoemerging market funds, Reuters reported. The yield on the bond was 5.875%.

* FitchRatings affirmed and withdrewits ratings on Banco VotorantimSA and unit BVLeasing after both companies chose to stop participating in therating process. The withdrawn ratings include Banco Votorantim's national scalelong- and short-term ratings of AA-(bra) and F1+(bra), respectively.

ANDEAN

*Venezuela's supreme court will allow the country's central bank, , to pursuea loan without gaining approval from the opposition-led congress, Reutersreported. Venezuela is looking to borrow $1 billion from the Colombia-basedLatin American Reserves Fund to boost its dwindling international reserves.

* According to a financial inclusion report, 76.3% ofColombia's population has a financial product, a 5.1% increase compared to lastyear, Portafolio reported.

SOUTHERNCONE

* CitigroupInc. extended the deadline for potential buyers of its Argentineoperations to submit their finalbids, Cronista reported.Interested parties will now have until Aug. 1 to file their offers; theypreviously were due by July 25.

* Chile's pensions regulator has formally initiated a process to invalidatethe merger between AFPs Cuprum and Argentum due to the tax benefits thatresulted from the deal, Pulsoreported. The regulator also said that it has started an investigation into asimilar merger between two other pension funds, and Acquisition.

IN OTHERPARTS OF THE WORLD

Asia-Pacific:BI keeps key rate at 6.5%;Goldman Sachs under scrutiny in 1MDB probe

Middle East& Africa: Bank of Mozambiquehikes rates again; Kenya eyes term limits for bank CEOs

Europe:Postbank disposal rethink; AdminRe stake disposal plan; Bankia, Sabadell earnings

PaulaMejia contributed to this article.

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