* Peruvian President Martin Vizcarra ordered the dissolution of Congress and said he would call for new legislative elections in January 2020, Reuters reported. He accused the congressmen of trying to block previous anti-corruption measures reportedly through anti-democratic means. In turn, opposition legislators prepared a motion to impeach Vizcarra and declared Vice President Mercedes Araoz as interim president. Meanwhile, the Peruvian police and armed forces have reaffirmed their support for Vizcarra.
* Colombian financial firm Créditos y Ahorro Credifinanciera S.A. Compañía de Financiamiento plans to launch digital savings accounts and checking accounts before the end of the year, once its merger with Banco ProCredit Colombia SA is finalized, La República reported, citing President Carlos Iván Vargas of Credifinanciera. He said the process will help the finance company become a full-fledged bank.
MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA
* Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador called on the central bank to focus also on economic growth and inflation, while lauding the decision of the monetary authority to reduce rates, Reuters reported. The central bank reduced its key rate by 25 points to 7.75% on Sept. 26.
* The Mexican central bank forecasts the CoDi digital payment platform to have 1.4 million accounts at the end of 2019 and 18.1 million by 2020, El Economista reported. The ABM association of Mexican banks estimated the number to grow to 37 million by 2022. Of the 33 banks that are required to offer the platform, 29 of them already have been certified to use the CoDi system.
* A U.S. district judge dismissed a class action lawsuit filed by eight pension funds against 10 financial companies accused of manipulating the market for Mexican government bonds, Reuters reported. The judge said the complainants failed to show a direct link between the defendants and conspiracy to manipulate the market.
CARIBBEAN
* Jamaica's central bank maintained its benchmark policy rate at 0.50%, saying monetary conditions at present are "generally appropriate" for the regulator to achieve the inflation target of between 4.0% and 6.0%.
* The Dominican Republic's central bank maintained its monetary policy rate at 4.50% annually, citing monthly inflation of 0.47% in August and year on year inflation at 1.72%.
BRAZIL
* Brazilian state development bank Banco Nacional de Desenvolvimento Econômico e Social is facing losses of up to 14.6 billion reais from loans to the construction and engineering conglomerate Odebrecht SA between 2003 and 2018, Reuters reported, citing a press release from the bank. The amount reportedly includes 3.7 billion reais in losses on export financing credits related to the federal government and 8.7 billion reais in loans to companies under judicial recovery of the Odebrecht Group.
* Brazil's central bank said the country's national debt rose to a record high 79.8% of GDP in August, Reuters reported. A mix of increased interest payments, heavier borrowing and a weaker exchange rate drove the increase in debt. Meanwhile, the primary fiscal deficit was at 13.45 billion reais.
* Results from the Brazilian central bank's recent FOCUS weekly survey show economists forecasting the Brazilian real trading at 4 reais per U.S. dollar by year-end 2019 and the benchmark Selic rate dropping to 4.75% from 5.00%, Reuters reported.
* Former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva rejected a request from federal prosecutors that he swap his stay in prison and be placed under house arrest, Bloomberg News reported. Lula has served more than a year out of his nine-year sentence for his involvement in the Lava Jato corruption scandal.
* Brazilian former billionaire Eike Batista was sentenced another eight years and seven months of prison for insider trading, Bloomberg News reported. Batista was already sentenced to 30 years for his involvement in the Lava Jato corruption scandal.
* BB Seguridade Participações SA convened an extraordinary meeting to approve a capital reduction of 2.7 billion reais with the possibility of selling treasury shares, Valor Econômico reported. BB Seguridade recently divested the car underwriting, major risks and reinsurance businesses after renegotiating its joint venture with Spanish insurer Mapfre SA.
* Paraguay's central bank said the GDP contracted 3.0% in the second quarter, and 2.5% in the first half, due to a decline in agriculture. Reuters reported. Nevertheless, it maintained its 2019 growth estimate at 1.5%.
PAN LATIN AMERICA
* An analysis by Bloomberg shows the Brazilian real, the Chilean peso and the Colombian peso would benefit the most in case of a trade agreement between the United States and China as the three currencies registered the highest average movement relative to the Chinese yuan.
IN OTHER PARTS OF THE WORLD
* Asia-Pacific: Paypal enters China payments market; Westpac mulls life insurance exit
* Middle East & Africa: Fitch cuts Saudi Arabia's rating; Nigerian banks miss deadline to boost lending
* Europe: Credit Suisse COO quits over spying; tougher rules for UK funds; Luminor sold
Pablo Jimenez Arandia 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. Links are current as of publication time, and we are not responsible if those links are unavailable later.
