S&P Global Market Intelligence presents the week's latest news and trends in Latin American banking.
Central bankers in action
* Banco Central de la República Argentina lowered its benchmark interest rate by nearly two percentage points on Sept. 13 to 84.14% from 85.99%. Just days later, the central bank raised the floor for its benchmark interest rate to 78% for the rest of September, up from 58% previously, in an effort to safeguard monetary and financial stability in Argentina. The bank also set a rate floor of 68% for October.
* Members of the Brazilian central bank's monetary policy committee unanimously agreed to cut the benchmark Selic interest rate by 50 basis points to 5.50%, citing the economy's gradual recovery and subdued inflation.
* Banco Central de Costa Rica lowered its monetary policy rate by 25 basis points to 3.75%, marking its fifth rate cut of 2019.
Ventures
* Two of the three founders of Brazilian payment startup Moip reportedly launched a new venture called Cora, a fully digital bank focused on small-scale entrepreneurs.
* Grupo Financiero Galicia SA unit Tarjetas Regionales SA received approval from Argentina's central bank to create a new digital financial company called Naranja Digital Compañía Financiera SAU.
* Caixa Seguridade Participações SA and CNP Assurances SA reached a partnership agreement that will grant Caixa Econômica Federal exclusive distribution of CNP insurance products. CNP will pay 7 billion Brazilian reais upfront to Caixa in exchange for a 40% stake in their 25-year joint venture, with the state-owned bank holding the other 60%.
In other news
* Peruvian banking regulator SBS authorized local lender Banco Internacional del Perú SAA to absorb units Contacto Servicios Integrales de Créditos y Cobranzas SA and Inversiones Huancavelica SA.
* Japan's SoftBank Group Corp. increased its ownership stake in Brazilian online bank Banco Inter SA to 14.94% from 8.1%. The technology giant now holds 35 million Banco Inter share deposit certificates, each representing 1 common share and 2 preferred shares.
* Tecnologia Bancária SA, also known as TecBan, is working on a system with digital banks that will provide access to the Banco24Horas ATM network, a move that should reduce the costs of cash-out operations.
* Banco Inter completed its latest conversion round of preferred and common shares to share deposit certificates, also known as units. The conversion included 18,333,449 preferred shares and 241,378 common shares.
* Banco Votorantim SA's new president, Gabriel Ferreira, said the Brazilian bank is starting to prepare for a stock exchange listing. Grupo Votorantim and Banco do Brasil SA plan to remain shareholders in the bank, Ferreira said.
* Banco do Estado do Rio Grande do Sul SA said it was planning to create a program to issue so-called unit shares, which would be composed of the bank's class B preferred shares and common shares. The plan was subject to the completion of Banrisul's public offering of common shares, which was canceled as investors were reportedly unwilling to pay the minimum asking price of 19 Brazilian reais per share.
* Peruvian development bank Corporación Financiera de Desarrollo SA was ordered to pay $32.6 million in compensation to Minera IRL Ltd. after losing an arbitration related to the bank's revocation of a loan to the mining company.
Featured this week on Market Intelligence
* Hires and Fires: A weekly rundown of executive management, board and other personnel moves at Latin American financial institutions.
* Ratings Roundup: A summary of various ratings actions on Latin American financial institutions and economies.
