LatAm banks favor FTAA

Latin American banks see a future free trade agreement of the Americas (FTAA) as something positive for the region, The Latin American Banking Federation (Felaban) said in a statement. The ongoing FTAA negotiation process is supposed to be completed by 2005 although the international press has many times deemed the 2005 goal as too optimistic considering major differences between the US and several Latin American countries on key protection issues. Felaban said it disagrees with a recent Zogby International and University of Miami survey, which showed that only 8% of Latin America's opinion leaders (enterprise, media, academia and government) believe that a FTAA will benefit the region. Latin America's bankers believe a single hemispheric trading bloc will benefit the region's economies and therefore also benefit the Latin American financial services industry. Felaban's position is based on a member study, the full results of which will be unveiled during the organization's 37th Annual Assembly in Miami, Florida on November 24-25. Felaban is a non-profit organization that represents more than 700 banking and financial institutions in 19 countries.