Walmex, the Mexican arm of U.S. retail giant Wal-Mart Stores Inc., is set for another tough year amid an economic slowdown that is making it more difficult for customers to buy anything from food to clothing.
In 2007, retailers were hurt by a downturn in the Mexican and U.S. economies. However, Walmex hopes that its first-quarter results will be decent. 
Listen to the company’s Chief Executive Eduardo Solorzano talk about the challenges ahead during Reuters Latin America Investment Summit. 

Ruben Iparraguirre, Chief Financial Officer at Banco Patagonia in Argentina, expressed his surprise over the U.S. government’s intervention to keep the credit crunch contained.

 During an interview for the Reuters Latin America Investment Summit in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Iparraguirre said the degree of U.S. activism was unexpected.

“We are surprised that the United States, which pushes free markets so much, has intervened so much now, that it’s done what it’s doing to save debtors who took on extremely expensive and risky mortgages, to save banks who loaned to those debtors, and to save the packagers who took those mortgages and resold them and designed them as junior, junior, junior bonds”.

As Mexico’s oil production gradually declines from peaks in 2004, future governments may need to come up with new ways to tax more products, like food or medicine, to keep healthy coffers, Deputy Finance Minister Jose Antonio Meade told the Reuters Latin America Investment Summit.
   Revenues from state oil firm Pemex currently bring government revenue to 20 percent of gross domestic product.

Many thought that with a sick neighbor, Mexico should have caught the blues already, right? Wrong. The Mexican economy looks like it is still growing at a good pace while its No. 1 trade partner, the United States, sails through choppy waters. 
   Central Bank Gov. Guillermo Ortiz told Reuters in an interview during the Third Latin America Summit that recent consumption, investment, industrial output and export data showed Mexico’s economic health appears sound, but inflation remains a concern.
   With Mexico’s average consumer prices currently hovering above the central bank’s comfort zone, Ortiz maintained expectations that inflation could range between 4 and 4.50 percent in the second quarter of this year.

Lawsuits over losses tied to subprime mortgage loans are expected to drag on for years, according to a lawyer representing institutional investors.

Salvatore Graziano, an attorney with Bernstein, Litowitz, Berger and Grossmann, told the Reuters Housing Summit his firm’s volume of cases suggests ligitation will last for a long time.

Nasser al-Sheikh, chairman of the Dubai-based mortgage lender Amlak Finance, says he is aiming for a 70 percent rise in 2008 profit on increased lending at home and contributions from foreign operations.

Sheikh told Reuters Islamic Finance summit in Dubai that Amlak would be “more aggressive” in its core business.

Hussain al-Qemzi, Noor Islamic Bank chief executive, tells Reuters Islamic Finance summit that Islamic banks are now part and parcel of the global banking industry. Qemzi is seeking to expand his United Arab Emirates-based bank to become the world’s largest Islamic bank in five years. 

 Asif Mumtaz, regional head of HSBC’s Islamic finance arm HSBC Amanah, called for more innovation to move Islamic banking further towards the industry’s mainstream. Mumtaz told a Reuters Islamic Finance summit in Dubai that there remained plenty to do in the areas of regulation and human development.

Sovereign Bancorp apparently got some angry phone calls on Wednesday after its CEO told the Reuters Finance Summit that the thrift was in talks with Dunkin’ Donuts to put its ATM machines in some of its franchises.

Asked whether Sovereign would consider doing an ATM deal with Dunkin’, Chief Executive Joseph Campanelli said:

“Yeah, they’ve got very good site selection, whether it’s developing pads de novo, whether it’s leveraging ATMs with the new stores. We are looking and talking about how do we work together on those types of things.” 

A few moments earlier, he was also quite expansive in describing the S&L’s relationship with the popular fast food chain:

“It’s obviously a New England-based company,” he said.  ”We know Jon Luther well. We know their investor group with Bain well. We do talk with them about their strategies and where they’re expanding to and how it would complement what we’re doing.”

But a few hours later, Campanelli, or Sovereign, reconsidered.

The bank issued a denial of his previous comments, saying  it was “not in discussions with Dunkin Donuts regarding ATMs or any other joint venture.”

The story could have ended there. Except that it didn’t. The next day, Dunkin’ Brands issued a rebuttal to Campanelli’s comments that was anything but sugar-coated.

 “While Mr. Luther and Mr. Campanelli enjoy a friendly relationship and mutual respect for one another, we were certainly surprised by his recent remarks discussing a potential alliance between our two companies. For the record, Dunkin’ Brands does not discuss our business strategies with other companies (including Sovereign Bank) and will not comment further on conversations that did not take place, or strategic alliances that do not exist.”

What did Campanelli say? Click below for the audio.