With a series of scandals shaking confidence in large listed banks and the financial crisis badly damaging their profits, European interest in co-operative lenders has been revived. Is this a passing phase – a knee-jerk reaction to a difficult couple of years – or is it the beginning of a larger, more permanent shift in sentiment?
Latin America's buoyant economies are attracting a slew of foreign institutions, with banks from within Latin America itself and from further afield establishing substantial networks across the continent. Unsurprisingly, the largest foreign-owned subsidiary presence is in Brazil, but the large domestic market has quelled Brazilian banks' ambitions elsewhere and it is Colombian lenders that are forging ahead with cross-border acquisitions.
With advanced economies still languishing in the doldrums, trade between Asia and Latin America is driving global economic growth, and it appears that this blossoming relationship is mutually beneficial. However, could protectionist policies in Latin America dampen this ardour?
Blessed with a geographical location that sees it link the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, and the trade that comes with it, Panama is keen to show that there is more to the country than its world-famous canal. Mining, tourism and finance are rapidly growing areas in Panama, though, as senior figures in the country discuss, a labour shortage poses a threat to this impressive growth story.
The manner in which the Greek restructuring deals have been carried out, and the preferred investor status given to the ECB and the central banks of other European countries, has left the private sector badly burned. Will this lead to a reluctance from private investors to re-enter the country, or the eurozone in general, thus hindering its recovery?
The sustained growth over the past few years of Peru's economy and banking sector has caused international investors to sit up and take notice. However, with this growth coming at a faster pace than the country's capital markets can absorb, many of its businesses are having to expand into the rest of Latin America in order to maximise their gains.