Argentina’s Banco Galicia Accepts Crypto; Colombian Coffee Gains Ground In China

Bloomberg Línea — Users of Argentina’s Banco Galicia, the largest bank in the country by assets, reported Monday the discovery of new function on their home banking apps that allows them to buy and sell four cryptocurrencies.

Colombian coffee is now being sold in Luckin Coffee, the largest coffee shop chain in China, which is supplied from grains grown on the Paraíso farm in the Piendamo municipality of Cauca department, located at an altitude of between 1,700 and 1,900 meters above sea level.

On the region’s stock markets on Monday, Colombia’s COLCAP index had the best performance in Latin America, boosted by the strong performance by Ecopetrol (ECOPETL) shares, on a good day for oil prices, and the rebound of Bancolombia (BCOLO) shares, which rose by more than 5% during the day. Mexico’s S&P BMV/IPC (MEXBOL) also closed higher on Monday, thanks to the performance of the financials, consumer staples and real estate sectors.

Following is a roundup of Monday’s news from Bloomberg Línea and Bloomberg reporters across Latin America.

Argentina

• Users of Argentina’s Banco Galicia, the largest bank in the country by assets, reported Monday the discovery of new function on their home banking apps that allows them to buy and sell four cryptocurrencies. Banco Galicia is part of Grupo Financiero Galicia (GGAL), and is the first bank in the country to offer such operations. When choosing “new investments”, the bank’s customers are able to select the ‘cryptos’ tab, allowing access to four cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin (XBT), Ether (ETH), USD Coin (USDC) and Ripple (XRP).

Brazil:

• As if the hangover suffered by the global economy following the pandemic was not enough, the health crisis also affected the way we relate to each other, and in Brazil, for the second consecutive year, the country recorded a new record number of divorces.

Chile:

• Chilean President Gabriel Boric said Monday his administration will take measures to control rising fuel costs that have pushed annual inflation to a 14-year high and pressured the central bank to raise interest rates.
• Amid rising prices, the monthly index of economic activity grew 7.2% year-on-year in March, driven by the services sector. The index increased 1.6% against February’s figure, according to the central bank.

Colombia

• Colombian coffee is now being sold in Luckin Coffee, the largest coffee shop chain in China, which is supplied from grains grown on the Paraíso farm in the Piendamo municipality of Cauca department, located at an altitude of between 1,700 and 1,900 meters above sea level. The coffee exported to China includes flavors of lemon grass and ginger caramel. According to Jiahang Wu, a representative in China of Colombia’s Federation of Coffee Growers, “although Luckin Coffee has been using Colombian coffee in its standard coffee blends since the beginning of its operations, this is a unique pilot project with a high impact for Colombian coffee growers, as it is a final product made 100% with Colombian coffee, and it is also a specialty coffee with added value”.

El Salvador:

• Central America must take measures to prevent the entry of avian flu, following an outbreak of the disease in Coahuila state in Mexico at the end of April. The local office of the organization for animal and plant health (OIRSA) issued a regional alert recommending restrictions on the entry of birds from countries, areas and establishments where the disease is present.

Guatemala:

• Starbucks (SBUX) has opened a branch in the Guatemalan city of Antigua, in conjunction with Premium Restaurants of America, which already operates other Starbucks coffee shops in Central America.

Mexico:

• Mexico’s state-owned oil company Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex) said it expects to pay its debt maturities without help from the government of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador in the short term.
• Ana Botín, president of Banco Santander, said Monday that Mexico is a “growth engine” for the company, but warned that the bank would only seek to buy Banamex, Citigroup’s (C) retail business in the country, if certain requirements are met