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.

Mexico to Sell $1 Billion of 10-Year Bonds Today

Business Week, 1/11/10

Mexico plans to sell $1 billion bonds in the country’s first international offering since its credit rating was cut by Standard & Poor’s and Fitch Ratings.

Mexico may sell the bonds to yield 5.25 percent as soon as today, said a person familiar with the transaction who declined to be identified because terms aren’t set. Citigroup Inc. and Bank of America Corp. are arranging the sale, the government said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Standard & Poor’s lowered Mexico’s rating one level to BBB, the second-lowest investment-grade rating, on Dec. 14, three weeks after Fitch Ratings made the same move, citing a swelling budget deficit. Mexico is the first Latin American country to sell dollar bonds overseas this year as rising investor demand for higher-yielding assets drives down borrowing costs.

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Citigroup Unit: Mexico Bank Loans To Grow Faster Than GDP

Wall Street Journal, 12/9/09

Mexican banks will likely grow lending at a faster rate than the economy next year as Mexico bounces back from its worst recession since the 1995 peso crisis, according to a top industry executive.

“We estimate that credit will grow at a rate superior to that of the overall economy, but not reaching the level it had between 2006 and 2008,” Enrique Zorrilla, chief executive of Citigroup Inc. (C) unit Banamex, said at a press conference Tuesday.

Zorrilla said commercial and mortgage lending should post the strongest growth in 2010, while consumer lending will expand at a much more modest pace.

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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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