Citigroup upbeat on Latin America wholesale banking

SANTIAGO (Reuters) - Citigroup Inc (C.N) expects a "very good" performance by its Latin American wholesale banking business this year despite the global financial crisis, an executive in the region said on Friday.

Fernando Quiroz, chief executive of Latin America Citi Markets and Banking, said the unit's operations, such as mergers and acquisitions, bond structuring sales, loans and other financing options continued to grow.

"We're generally seeing a good performance in the Latin American region. Very good," he told Reuters in Chile. "It's virtually our best year in terms of transactions ... on all fronts," said Quiroz, who is also deputy president of Banamex, Mexico's No. 2 bank and part of Citigroup.

U.S. taxpayers rescued Citigroup after it faced billions of dollars in losses, but Quiroz said the group's Latin American wholesale unit is getting a lift as companies seek funding through debt emissions and loans.

"When you are old in Latin America, you learn to navigate at critical times and the truth is the group will do very well," he added.

Quiroz said Citi had no buying plans in short-term.

"We're concentrating more on our franchises and for the moment we're not contemplating any acquisitions in the region," he said.

(Reporting by Antonio de la Jara; Writing by Alexia Vlahos, Editing by Leslie Gevirtz)