Some time in September 2008, Brazil’s president, Luiz Ignácio Lula da Silva was asked by journalists what he thought about the global economic crises we are going through. He replied by saying, “When people ask me about an economic crisis in the world, I tell them, go ask George Bush. After all, it is his crisis and not mine.” Such has been more or less the attitude of the Latin finance world to contemporary issues and developments. Whether described as indifference or whatever else, Latin finance has had a hands-off policy of administrating growth and development for a long time now. It is easy to understand why this delusion has been perpetrated in the region about the non-volatile status of their financial institutions. Policymakers and key economists on the world stage have been full of praise for Latin America’s increasing financial independence and industrial maturity. Of repute...