Brazil's prominence on the world economic stage and the growing prosperity of its population is increasing the country's need for banking and other financial services. Financial institutions looking to capitalize on this potential need to understand market entry requirements, the intricacies of doing business in the region and the hurdles they must overcome.

Listen to this podcast as Accenture's Dr. Alastair MacWillson explains how cyber crime is hard to predict, but as the prevalence of online and digital channels grows, so do the risks to cyber security. Banks must mitigate and counter cyber crime.

A recent Huffington Post article by Dan Froomkin and Paul Blumenthal which focused on how much money the banks have spent on lobbying. Cenk Uygur discusses this amazing number and why the banks spend so much money on lobbying the federal government.

As bank brands become increasingly commoditized and competition grows more intense, customer loyalty has all but vanished. In this environment of complex imperatives, understanding the factors that drive loyalty, and managing these factors successfully, is critical to staying relevant, competitive and profitable.

Over the past few years Brazil has experienced the benefits of economic stability and growth, prompting the migration of almost 30 million people to the middle class and a new level of purchasing power. However, Brazil's strong domestic demand leaves many investors wondering: Has the country come too far too fast? In this podcast, Standard & Poor's credit analyst Milena Zaniboni discusses Brazil's rapid growth surge and explains why we expect banks to deal effectively with any looming risks.

Most banks in Asia-Pacific are unlikely to face significant difficulty complying with Basel III's higher capitalization requirements in 2013, according to a recent Standard & Poor's report. But some may struggle more than others. In this podcast, Standard & Poor's Managing Director Naoko Nemoto explains why most Asia-Pacific banks are likely to meet the requirements while some may have difficulty.

A pesar de las crisis económicas y del consiguiente incremento en la regulación, el sistema bancario mexicano ha mantenido un nivel de capitalización que se compara favorablemente con los bancos en todo el mundo. En opinión de Standard & Poor's, el capital ajustado por riesgo del sistema tiene una alta calidad y se sitúa en 10%; los bancos han mejorado la calidad de sus carteras de crédito desde 2007. En este podcast, Angélica Bala, Senior Director en Standard & Poor's nos habla sobre la trayectoria y el panorama para los bancos en México.

I believe the financial services industry worldwide was lacking of a comprehensive benchmark on social media activity on more and more popular online communities like facebook or twitter. This is precisely why back in early 2009 me and my team at Visible Banking started tracking the social media presence of banks, insurance, investment firms and more widely financial services firms all over the world.

The Chinese banking sector still faces a number of obstacles down the road, despite the major banks' generally strong positions. Banks' exposure to local government financing vehicles and the property sector are currently hot industry topics. In this CreditMatters TV segment, Managing Director Ryan Tsang, Financial Institutions, takes an in-depth look at these issues and the trends shaping China's banks.

Italy's banks are slowly digging out of one of the deepest recessions in the past half century, as the country's GDP declined a cumulative 6% in 2008-2009. But banks are climbing over difficult and new terrain, such as persistently slow domestic economic growth, much higher prices for wholesale funding due to sovereign credit worries in the eurozone, and tougher capital rules in the run-up to Basel III. In this podcast, Standard & Poor's credit analyst Renato Panichi provides an in-depth look at the situation and what could lie ahead.

Since March 28th, 2011, Standard & Poor's has downgraded, by several notches, the five Portuguese banks that they rate to 'BBB-'. S&P has also lowered the short-term ratings to 'A-3'. The outlooks on four of the five banks are negative. One bank still remains on CreditWatch negative. What prompted their rating actions on the banks? In this podcast, Director Elena Iparraguirre explains their rationale, why they feel sovereign risk and banks' ratings are so tighthly correlated, and their main expectations for the Portuguese financial system.

Canadian banks will be focusing their attention on pursuing growth, managing risks and investing in innovation, state the authors of Canadian Banks 2011: Perspectives on the Canadian banking industry. This year, the annual report includes perspectives from leading financial services investment managers and analysts along with a video with PwC's banking leaders.

The risks of a double-dip recession may have receded, but inflation is hogging the headlines again. Asian central banks are about to face another challenging year in 2011, responding to inflation and struggling to deal with capital inflows.

In this episode, Matt King discusses how recent regulation affects credit investors and markets, noting that these are palliatives that are overshadowed by huge debt accumulation.

Simon Johnson, a former chief economist for the International Monetary Fund and author of 13 Bankers: The Wall Street Takeover and the Next Financial Meltdown, says the recently passed Dodd-Frank Financial Reform Act does little to prevent the biggest financial risk of our time -- banks that are becoming "too big to save," either because potential losses could overwhelm government resources, or the public will refuse to sanction another large bailout.