Latin American Awards for Excellence 2012: By country

Argentina

Best Bank: Santander Rio
Best M&A house: Credit Suisse

Despite strong recent GDP growth (8% in 2011) the Argentine financial system is under increasing pressure. Since president Cristina Kirchner introduced new capital controls in October 2010, $3.5 billion in foreign-currency deposits – mostly US dollars – has left the banking system. Argentines, remembering the forced conversion of dollar deposits into pesos in 2002, and seeing a widening gap between the official and unofficial dollar conversion rates, are shunning the banks in favour of hard assets, such as real estate, or storage under the mattress.