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Bloomberg Printer-Friendly Page: "Brazil, Latin Stocks Lure Investors Betting on `Quality' Growth

March 9 (Bloomberg) -- Filippo de Luca, who helps oversee $1.1 billion of investments at Switzerland's LMF Servizi Finanziari SA, is moving about 6,000 miles to set up an office in Sao Paulo.

He's confident Latin America has broken its cycle of booms and busts, even after the region's benchmark stock index on March 7 had its biggest drop in almost two years.

``Latin American economies have made a leap to quality,'' de Luca, 35, said in a phone interview from Lugano, Switzerland. ``We are totally convinced that this time the economic growth will be much more sustainable than it has been in the past.''

Overseas investors are flooding into Latin America, lured by such stocks as Brazil's Petroleo Brasileiro SA and Mexico's America Movil SA as the United Nations forecasts a fourth year of growth for the region. Earnings for Latin companies will rise 19 percent this year, compared with 13.6 percent growth for the rest of the world excluding the U.S., said Audrey Kaplan, a money manager at Rochdale Investment Management in New York.

``Looking ahead on growth and considering its valuation, we still feel there are good opportunities in Latin America,'' Kaplan, who helps manage $1.7 billion of assets worldwide, said in a phone interview.

Brazil's Bovespa index has climbed 11 percent this year, Argentina's Merval is up 15 percent and Mexico's Bolsa has advanced 3.4 percent. All three have reached records in 2006, as has the Morgan Stanley Capital International index of Latin American stocks. The regional index has risen 11 percent, heading toward a fourth-straight annual gain, which would be the longest streak since the index was created in 1988.

Track Record

Latin stocks sell for 12.7 times their earnings of the past year, versus 17.9 for stocks globally, based on MSCI indexes.

The region's markets stumbled to start this"

BBC NEWS | Business | Flush HSBC rewards investors first

BBC NEWS | Business | Flush HSBC rewards investors first: "Flush HSBC rewards investors first
by Gavin Stamp
BBC News business reporter

Spending money can cause headaches whether you are a window shopper on a shoe-string budget or the country's wealthiest bank.

In the case of HSBC, which has reported record profits for a UK High Street bank of £11.5bn, finding an appropriate home for such a pile of cash is necessarily complicated.

After such a lucrative year, should the bank increase rewards for its shareholders or share more of the proceeds with its 250,000 staff?

On the other hand, should it use the money to fund further global expansion, boost its offering in specific areas or, even, put something under the bed for the proverbial rainy day?

The answer, generally speaking, would seem to be a little of everything.

In line with our strategy, we concentrated on organic growth
HSBC

But it is the bank's shareholders - which range from multinational financial institutions to small investors in the UK and further afield - who will be the main winners.

HSBC is planning to return about £4.2bn to investors this year through dividends, approximately half of the £8.2bn available to the firm after tax and other deductions.

Dividend clamour

Banks such as HSBC have come under growing pressure in recent times to give more of their substantial profits back to shareholders.

Investors argue that large amounts of 'excess capital' - money left over beyond a bank's operating needs and funds required by regulators to safeguard against sudden financial difficulties - are inefficient.

They should either be spent - which banks have historically done on acquisitions, most recently overseas deals - or paid back, investors say.

Banks have heard this growing clamour and reacted.

While HSBC is increasing its dividend by 11%, Royal Bank of Scotland - which owns National Westminster Bank - recently said it would r"