A cache of secret bank files shows that HSBC's Swiss banking arm helped wealthy customers avoid taxes and hide millions of dollars, according to a report by a network of investigative journalists released Sunday.
Costa Rica announced that it would remove the country’s nine-year-old currency band system in favor of a floating exchange against the U.S. dollar, according to a statement from the Central Bank Saturday.
Agents from Costa Rica's Judicial Investigation Police, or OIJ, on Thursday morning arrested three employees of the BAC San José branch in Quepos, a port town next to the popular central Pacific tourist destination of Manuel Antonio, on suspicion of money laundering. A fourth suspect, believed to be the ringleader of the operation, is still at large, according to law enforcement sources.
The European Union plans to offer Latin America 2.5 billion euros ($3.4 billion) in development aid over the next seven years to fund projects ranging from security to education.
