Latin American Economy & Business - March 2015 (ISSN 1741-7430)

The liberalisation of trade and investment flows between Cuba and the rest of the world is good news for foreign banks (from Spain, Canada, France and Trinidad & Tobago) already providing trade finance services through their representative offices in Havana. Some local Cuban banks and non-bank financial institutions involved with trade finance should benefit too. However, wholesale liberalisation of the banking sector is very unlikely until the authorities have identified a sustainable alternative to the complicated dual currency system and worked out how that alternative should be introduced.