Financial leaders: Latin America's top banks, pension funds, insurers and brokerage houses.

• Author: Brown, Greg
• Position: Art

It isn't enough to be rich. The world is full of countries that are rich on paper but poor when it comes to the most basic human measures of hunger and disease. The raw materials gold rush in Latin America, like the tech rush of a few years ago and the privatization rush before it, needs competent, serious financial institutions to manage and direct that money, or it's easy come, easy go.

Thankfully, that has largely happened in many countries in the region. Foreign bankers visiting Brazil always comment on how fast and efficient the sector has become. Mexican banks, after more than a decade of foreign competition and investment, are catching up quickly. In fact, the money is so fast and deep in those countries that banks are done with the low-hanging fruit. They are reaching down into the middle classes and lower for new business.

It hasn't hurt that governments...