EUROPEAN BANKS LEAVE THE LATIN AMERICAN MARKET

EUROPEAN BANKS LEAVE THE LATIN AMERICAN MARKET

The Euro Crisis is day after day more profound and keeps hitting the financial market of the region and this is one of the reasons why European banks are selling in the Latin America.

At least 5 larger European banks have been selling its assets in Latin America due to the urgent need for capital. This capital is being used to mitigate the crisis on their headquarters and also to apply to the new requirements that the European Central Bank is starting to enforce.

The first bank to sell their assets on the region was the Royal Bank of Scotland, that sold for a non disclosure number their operations in Colombia to the Canadian Scotiabank.

Then the rally started with the market exit of other big players. The assets that have been sold are Pension Funds, Banks, Credit Card Portfolios, Offices, Stock Brokerages and Insurance Companies.

The second European financial institution to leave the region was ING that sold its operations in the Pension Fund business in the region to the Colombian company Sura Group for 3.614 million dollars. The third was Santander Bank, the Spaniard giant leave its operations in Colombia and part of its operations in Chile, in the hands of Corpbanca, the Chilean group that is establishing operations in Colombia and is seeking to expand to other countries in the region, for 2.200 million dollars. The fourth financial institution to quit was the HSBC; the English bank sold its operations in the region to the Sudameris Bank owned by the Colombian businessman Jaime Gilisnki. And now the latest drop out was the BBVA that sold its operations in Puerto Rico and is expecting to raise 5.000 million dollars due to the sales of their Pension Fund business in Mexico, Colombia and other countries in the region.

This represents an incredible opportunity for the local businessman to invest on these assets and to negotiate a favorable price, in order to get the chance to strength their business and to grow beyond the political borders of the countries.