Banking: The week in 10 stories

Region

Swedish fintech Instantor told BNamericas it hopes Latin America's vibrant startup community will leverage its banking API to create new financial services products.

Argentina

Monthly inflation was 3.9% in August, bringing annual inflation to 34.4%.

The month of August also saw the increase of local currency deposits outpace the growth of peso-denominated loans.

Brazil

The monetary authorities in Brazil and Hong Kong signed a cooperation agreement regarding issues linked to fintechs.

The current administration is reportedly planning to send a bill to congress shortly after the October 7 general elections with the aim of cutting the corporate tax rate.

Ratings agency DBRS highlighted several challenges facing Brazil after the elections as it confirmed the country's sovereign ratings.

The 100 economists participating in the central bank's weekly forecast survey once again reduced the growth forecast for this year amid economic pessimism and elections-related uncertainty.

Colombia

Six of Colombia's largest banks plan to invest a combined 600bn pesos (US$197mn) in technology, innovation and infrastructure.

Mexico

Secondary legislation has been published for the landmark fintech law that was passed in March.

Peru

The finance ministry has adopted a proposal to place Mi Agro under the supervision of the country's financial services watchdog SBS. Mi Agro is the proposed state company that, under a bill being debated in congress, troubled development lender Agrobanco would be converted into.