* BM&FBOVESPA SA – Bolsa de Valores Mercadorias eFuturos said it acquired an equitystake of about 4.1% in Mexican stock exchange Bolsa Mexicana de Valores SABde CV with an investment of 640 million Mexican pesos. BM&FBOVESPA notedthat it "will continue to assess expansion opportunities in activitiesconnected to its core business."

MEXICO AND CENTRALAMERICA

* Mexico's new financial discipline law imposinglimits on debt is a creditpositive for the country's regional and local governments, Moody'ssaid. The legislation includes three core purposes: to improve transparency, tocurb the growth of debt and to improve financial management.

* Panama's Caja de Ahorros launched a new called Banca Seguros, whichoffers a range of insurance products including life, accident and homeinsurance, Capital Financieroreported.

* Alvaro Aleman, Panama's presidential chief of staff, saidthe government could take actionagainst France after the European nation signaled it would place Panama back ona list of disobliging tax jurisdictions, Reuters reported. The issue comes amidthe fallout of the Panama Papers.

* After almost a year-long investigation,Mexican federal competition commission Cofece found that some local pensionfund managers, or Afores, engaged in anticompetitive activities, including themanipulation of prices, El Economistareported. The commission will hold trials where the Afores that allegedlycommitted wrongdoing will have a chance to defend themselves.

BRAZIL

* Brazilian banks will continue to face on their asset qualityand profitability as market volatility continues, Moody's said. Banks'heightened risk aversion and growing conservative approach in lending willfurther weigh down on credit growth and strain borrowers' liquidity andrefinancing capacity, the rating agency added.

* The Brazilian government's economic team is mulling thefeasibility ofIRB-Brasil RessegurosSA's sale through a public auction instead of an initial publicoffering, O Estado de S. Pauloreported. IRB's IPO was initially planned for 2015, but was canceled due to unfavorablemarket conditions amid Brazil's deepening economic crisis.

* Companies in Brazil filed 409 bankruptcyprotection requests in the first quarter, more than double the year-ago figureof 191 requests, Reuters reported, citing credit research firm Serasa Experian."Brazil's deepening recession and an increase in operational and financialcosts have led to successive records in the number of bankruptcy protection filings,"Serasa said.

* CreditSuisse Group AG is dismissing nine executives from its Brazilianfixed-income and structured-products operations, Bloomberg News reported,citing "two people with knowledge of the matter." Eight executiveshave already left, while Sergio Machado, a managing director and head of thebusiness, will depart soon, the sources said.

* Banco doBrasil SA is expanding its wholesale banking division to provideadvisory services to clients who want to restructuretheir finances, Reuters reported, citing Maurício Maurano, vice president ofthe company's wholesale business.

* Brazilian Vice President Michel Temer will relinquishhis leadership of the PMDB party to Senator Romero Jucá, who is currently theparty's vice president, O Globoreported. Meanwhile, Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Marco Aurelio Melloordered Congress to launch impeachmentproceedings against Temer over allegations that he assisted the government inmanipulating its budget, Reuters reported.

ANDEAN

* Retail loansto micro and small enterprises in Peru increased 1.8% annually in February,marking the fifth consecutive month of growth, El Comercio reported, citing Peruvian banking association Asbanc.

* BancoDavivienda SA made a capital injectionequivalent to about $31 million in unit Corporación Davivienda (CR) SA, La República reported.

* Colombian regulators announced the completion of the liquidationof Interbolsa Holding, the parent of collapsed brokerage firm , Portafolio reported.

SOUTHERN CONE

* Chilean insurance companies posted a total profitof $605 million in 2015, up 22.7% from the previous year, BNamericas reported.Written premiums, meanwhile, grew 14.5% annually to $10.4 billion.

* Argentina has asked its creditors for more time to makedebt repaymentsunder a landmark agreement that was recently reached between the parties,Bloomberg News reported. The government will not be able to meet the April 14repayment deadline due to a court hearing. The bondholders must agree topostpone the deadline or risk the agreement breaking apart, Argentine FinanceMinister Alfonso Prat-Gay said.

* Chile's Banco Ripley is working with consulting firm McKinsey torestructure the bank's operations and expandits range of products, Diario Financieroreported. The lender is looking to make its operations more efficient, althoughthis strategy will not necessarily involve layoffs, according to the report.

* During an economic summit in Argentina, local bankers saidthe country's debt agreement with holdout creditors and its declining inflationare key factorsthat can help attract more investments and boost growth, La Nación reported.

* Chile's economic prosecutor has decided to investigate an agreementbetween Banco SantanderChile, Banco BilbaoVizcaya Argentaria Chile SA and Banco de Chile to create a company to manage the banks'ATMs that are located outside of branches, DiarioFinanciero reported. The prosecutor believes the agreement poses certainrisks that have not been considered.

PAN LATIN AMERICA

* Under a scenario of lower-for-longer commoditiesprices, many countries in Latin America and the Caribbean will experience a structuralshift in their future growth trends, Moody's said. Based on their exposureand susceptibility to commodity price shocks, the rating agency expects thatfor most commodity exporters in Latin America, their growth trend from 2016 to2020 will be lower by about one percentage point relative to their growthperformance between 2000 and 2015.

IN OTHER PARTS OF THEWORLD

* Japan's Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. is actively pursuingoverseas acquisition opportunities in thefund administration business, Reuters reported, citing Mikio Ikegaya, presidentof Mitsubishi UFJ Trust &Banking Corp. The executive, however, did not give specific detailsof the potential acquisitions.

* The Reserve Bank of India is part of an investigative teamprobingthe leaked files of Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca, Business Standard reported, citing Governor Raghuram Rajan. TheIndian Finance Ministry has announced a multi-agency investigation team to lookinto Indian locals named in the leaks.

* BarclaysPlc said that in light of current market conditions for investmentbanking and on the back of a particularly strong March in 2015, it does notexpect "as strong a performance" from its investment bankingoperations for thefirst quarter.

* U.K. opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn called on PrimeMinister David Cameron to clarifyhis family's tax arrangements after the Panama Papers showed that his latefather was a director of an offshore investment fund, Bloomberg News reports. Aspokesman for Cameron said the prime minister and his family did not benefitfrom any offshore funds, Reuters notes.

* The total dollar value of the U.S. life insuranceindustry's investments in mortgage loans hit another high in 2015,as companies continued to turn to the asset class in an effort to find yield ina low-for-long interest rate environment.

Paula Mejiacontributed to this article.

The Daily Dose has aneditorial deadline of 8:00 a.m. São Paulo time, and scans news sources publishedin English, Portuguese and Spanish. Some external links may require asubscription.