Scotiabank to Increase Small Loans in Mexico

Bloomberg, 1/18/2013

Bank of Nova Scotia says it can boost small loans in Mexico as much as 20 percent in a push for business in Latin America, where lending margins are double the Canadian average. Canada’s third-largest bank expects to add to a C$3 billion ($3 billion) micro-loan portfolio with credit to consumers and small businesses ranging from $300 to $3,000. The bank will target clients in the 240 Mexico branches it acquired last year from Citigroup Inc. (C)’s Banamex unit.

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Citigroup and Banamex evaluated presidential candidates, Peña Nieto considered ‘low profile’ [In Spanish]

Animal Político, 5/3/2012

Citigroup and Banamex analysts think that Enrique Peña Nieto will be Mexico’s next president, although they also believe that he is a ‘low profile’ candidate.

On February 23rd, a group of Citigroup analysts organized a meeting with investors and the three main presidential candidates, at which each of them had 50 minutes to present their national project and also had to answer questions from the audience. These meetings took part parallel to the 22nd plenary session of Banamex.

After the meetings, Citigroup, the brokerage Accival and the Department of Economic, Political and Social Studies of Banamex put together a document in which the three presidential candidates are evaluated.

Animal Político presents the results of these evaluations here.

Bank Of Mexico Seen Holding Rates Until October 2012 – Survey

The Wall Street Journal, 8/22/11

The Bank of Mexico is expected to keep its overnight lending rate target at 4.5% until October 2012 as inflation remains steady and economic growth slows, according to the latest biweekly survey of banks conducted by Citigroup Inc. (C) unit Banamex.

Banamex said Monday that the median estimate of 21 banks was for a quarter-percentage-point increase in the overnight rate in October of next year, compared with May in the previous survey.

The previous survey was released on Aug. 4, the day before Standard & Poor’s cut the U.S. credit rating.

Banamex: Mexico will receive high levels of investment in 2011 (in Spanish)

El Seminario, 1/10/2011

Considerando las altas tasas de interés locales, la fortaleza del peso, las mejores perspectivas que se tienen sobre la economía mundial y los sólidos fundamentales macroeconómicos que presenta México, analistas de Banamex anticipan que nuestro país será un importante receptor de inversión extranjera en este 2011, lo que tendrá un impacto favorable en el tipo de cambio y en los mercados locales de bonos y capitales.

En un reporte publicado hoy por dicho banco, México inicia el 2011 en condiciones económicas favorables, donde pese a que el crecimiento económico es moderado, las finanzas públicas avalan la solvencia de su deuda soberana, el desequilibrio de las cuentas externas es fácilmente financiable, mientras que las reservas internacionales alcanzan niveles récord y nuevamente se tienen mecanismos de cobertura para enfrentar la volatilidad en el precio del petróleo.

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Mexico Senate Asks Supreme Court to Rule on Banamex Bank Case

Bloomberg, 11/4/09

Nov. 4 (Bloomberg) — Mexico’s Senate asked the Supreme Court to rule on whether the Finance Ministry has authority on its own to permit foreign banks such as Banamex, a unit of Citigroup Inc., to operate in the country.

The request for an opinion addresses the ministry’s decision on March 19 that Banamex, Mexico’s second-largest bank, didn’t run afoul of the country’s ban on foreign-government ownership of banks even after the U.S. government bailed out Citigroup. The Senate approved the petition on Oct. 13.

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Banamex dilemma for Citigroup

Financial Times, 10/20/09

When Washington bailed out Citigroup and other US financial institutions last year, it eventually put the bank’s Mexican subsidiary at the centre of a political storm south of the border.

At the time, rumours were whirling that Citigroup wanted to sell Banamex, one of the stars in its fading galaxy.

Today, those rumours have been replaced by speculation that it may ultimately be forced to sell it.

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Mexico’s Carstens Says U.S. Citigroup Stake Temporary

Bloomberg, 3/20/2009

Agustin Carstens

Mexican Finance Minister Agustin Carstens said U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner told him the government’s stake in Citigroup Inc. is temporary, a position that will help avoid conflicts with Mexican law.

Carstens said the U.S. bailout of Citigroup has helped strengthen its Mexican unit, Grupo Financiero Banamex SA, and that he thinks the U.S. will relinquish its stake in Citigroup by 2012.

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Mexican Lawmakers Target Citigroup’s Banamex in Bill

Bloomberg, 3/4/2009

Mexican opposition lawmakers plan to propose a bill that may force Citigroup Inc. to give up control of Grupo Financiero Banamex SA after the U.S. government said it will take a 36 percent stake in the New York-based company.

Under the draft published today in the official Senate gazette, if a foreign government has a stake in a foreign company that owns a Mexican bank, the foreign firm would have to reduce its ownership in the Mexican bank to less than 50 percent within 30 days. Senators from the opposition Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, plan to propose the bill.

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No conflict in Mexico with Citi bailout – Banamex

Reuters, 2/27/2009

The U.S. government move to boost its equity stake in Citigroup does not violate Mexican law and will not change the company’s strategy, Citi’s Mexican unit, Banamex, said on Friday.

“There are clear arguments that affirm that the (transaction) announced today does not conflict with any Mexican legislation,” Banamex said, citing the the North American Free Trade Agreement.

Speculation has mounted that Citi could be forced to sell Banamex, which it describes as one of its crown jewels, to raise funds to bolster its depleted capital levels.

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Citigroup not planning to sell Banamex: sources

Slim: not looking to buy Banamex

Reuters, 1/21/2009

Citigroup Inc views its Mexican banking unit Banamex as a solid business and has no plans to sell it, sources familiar with the matter said. Analysts and business columnists have speculated recently that leading businessmen in Mexico could be planning to buy Banamex as Citigroup tries to shed assets.

Telecommunications entrepreneur Carlos Slim, the world’s second wealthiest man, was widely seen as a potential buyer, but his spokesman told Reuters on Friday that he was not in talks to acquire the bank.

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