TORONTO, ON and NEW YORK, NY -- Scotiabank announced today that an agreement has been reached to acquire Citigroup's retail and commercial banking businesses in Panama and Costa Rica, subject to regulatory approval. Scotiabank's common equity tier one capital ratio will be impacted by approximately 15 basis points. This acquisition is in line with Scotiabank's strategy to increase scale within ...

Wikimedia Commons Panama, 03-JULY-2013 (WireService.co)– 2Bet Bob is pleased to announce that their headquarters have been moved to the country of Panama, due to unexpected red tape in Costa Rica. This move will not affect the excellent customer service which is a feature of the betting site. The pay per head feature allows the company to provide 24-hour betting every day. 2Bet Bob uses the PP...

Wikimedia Commons EUROMONEY Press Release -- Leading figures from the banking and capital markets across Latin America gathered in London on Thursday to hear the announcement of Euromoney’s Awards for Excellence 2015, considered the benchmark for leading firms in financial services globally. BBVA has been named by Euromoney magazine as the best bank in Latin America. During the past year BB...

Pixabay Commons SAN JOSE, CA--(Marketwired - Jul 9, 2015) - The company GEP announced that it will install a services center in Costa Rica in the second half of the year. The company will hire multilingual professionals or advanced undergraduates with knowledge in management and engineering for its operation. The company will seek for talent with language skills in English, Portuguese, Fren...

NEW YORK, July 8, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Today BrainStation announced the signing of a definitive agreement to acquire Origami Academy, a leading Latin American digital education institute, based in San Jose, Costa Rica. Founded in 2013, Origami Academy delivers unique and innovative programming and educational offerings spanning web and mobile development, user experience and user interface design....

Source: Wikimedia Commons Undefeated boxing star Floyd Mayweather Jr. is no longer the World Boxing Organization (WBO) welterweight champion. According to a resolution issued by the WBO, the title has been vacated due to Mr. Mayweather's recanting on his promise to voluntarily vacate his titles as well as his failure to pay $200K to the WBO for his right to participate in this boxing enterpris...

Source: Banco Central ECLAC Press Release – Costa Rica has been able to transform its productive structure, and its achievements in forging a welfare state with greater equality and human development have been an example for all of Latin America. Now they must be defended with a comprehensive and timely fiscal reform, Alicia Bárcena, Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin Ame...

CINDE In 2013, Site Selection Magazine, an industry journal dedicated to business strategy and economic development, highlighted Costa Rica as one of the Top Ten “Best to Invest” countries in the world. For this reason, the administration of President Luis Guillermo Solis Rivera has been very busy in attracting foreign investment through the Costa Rican Investment Promotion Agency (Spanish ini...

HRH Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal HRH Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz Alsaud, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Alwaleed Philanthropies, today announced his intention to donate all of his wealth to philanthropy over the coming years to help build a “better world of tolerance, acceptance, equality and opportunity for all.” This $32 billion philanthropic pledge will help build bridges...

United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change – Nearly 10% of Costa Rica’s greenhouse gas emissions stem from coffee production, an industry integral to Costa Rica’s national identity and economy. Café Costa Rica is a nationally appropriate mitigation action (NAMA) that takes a giant step towards Costa Rica’s ambitious goal of carbon neutrality by 2021 while also strengthening a vital indu...

PerHeadStore.com San José, Costa Rica – Today, Per Head Store has announced that the company has hired 21 additional programmers to its existing team. This step is not only important for the company to stay on top if it comes to delivering software products that are innovative and leading in its niche, but also a great benefit for the local community in Costa Rica, as this step also creates ne...

Wikimedia Commons Washington, Jun 29 (EFE).- The U.S. government is not planning a federal bailout for Puerto Rico although the island is having severe financial problems and says its debt is unpayable, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Monday. "There's no one in the administration or in D.C. that's contemplating a federal bailout of Puerto Rico," Earnest said at his daily press confe...

SAN JOSE, COSTA RICA--(Marketwired - Jun 26, 2015) - The multinational company Cargill opened its Cargill Business Services (CBS) center in Costa Rica. This business unit will provide services to the Americas in the areas of Finance and Human Resources, and in the future it will add services in information technology, strategic sourcing, transportation and logistics. Cargill decided to accelera...

Source: ATL Tech SPRINGVILLE, Utah, June 26, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- ATL Technology, LLC, a top provider of electromechanical contract manufacturing of assemblies and devices with specialties in single use solutions, headquartered in Springville, Utah, has announced the acquisition of MedConx, Inc. (a California corporation with locations in Santa Clara, CA, and San Jose, Costa Rica). This acq...

PRFree.Org (Press Release) Jun 24, 2015 -- With the economy driving towards globalization, many organizations are hard bound to gain a competitive benefit by bringing down their costs and optimizing their efficiency and a great customer service. So, how to achieve it with the limited time available? If you are looking for a single-word answer, then the best idea is to opt for offshore software out...

Alleged Greenwashing by Infinito Gold Infinito Gold, the infamous Canadian mining and exploration company that was summarily prohibited from carrying out business in our country by popular demand, is in need of more money to pursue its lofty and quixotic arbitration claim against the government of Costa Rica. As reported by The Costa Rica Star in February: recently announced its acceptanc...

Jackson, Miss. (June 23, 2015) – Representatives from Mississippi Development Authority will lead a delegation of Mississippi companies on a business development mission to Central America Sept.19-25, 2015. The trip is designed to connect Mississippi businesses that want to expand trade and create new business relationships with qualified buyers in Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Panama. With the ...

Crossing into Nicaragua from Costa Rica at the border The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) has approved a $100 million loan to the Costa Rican government to finance its Border Integration Program. The goal of the program is to increase the country's competitiveness in foreign trade by modernizing its infrastructure and equipment, establishing processes and tools for effective controls ...

Source: PokerStars MONTREAL, May 27, 2015 /CNW/ - Portuguese football/soccer superstar Cristiano Ronaldo has joined Team PokerStars as a brand ambassador and will promote the game and the brand in global marketing campaigns, PokerStars, an Amaya Inc. (TSX:AYA) brand, announced today. The superstar player announced his new role via a personal video placed on his Facebook page where he is the...

Costa Rica is an increasingly expensive and prohibitive destination for foreign companies that wish to transfer their executives and staff to our country. Such was the report recently broadcast by national television network Teletica, which cited a research study by consulting firm Mercer Global. According to the Mercer report, the Greater San Jose Metropolitan Area (Spanish initials: GAM) rank...

Solar Energy Park in Guanacaste, Costa Rica MARYLAND HEIGHTS Mo., June 16, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- SunEdison, Inc. (NYSE: SUNE), the world's largest renewable energy development company, today announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire 100 percent of Globeleq Mesoamerica Energy (GME), Central America's leading renewable energy company. SunEdison will acquire a 70 percent inter...

Solar power recharging station for electric vehicles in Costa Rica SAN JOSÉ, Costa Rica--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The prestigious EARTH University of Costa Rica and the German expert in capacity building Renewables Academy (RENAC) have launched the distance learning programme “Especialización en Energías Renovables”. This one-year interdisciplinary programme delivers knowledge about technology, all ph...

Rainforest in Costa Rica Atlanta, Georgia (PRWEB) June 16, 2015 -- Protected forested areas in Brazil, Costa Rica, Indonesia and Thailand have prevented the release of more than 1,000 million additional tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, an economic service provided by nature worth at least $5 billion, according to new research by Georgia State University economist Paul Ferraro with a...

Source: Mondelez SAN JOSE, COSTA RICA--(Marketwired - Jun 15, 2015) - Mondelez International, proud maker of iconic brands such as Gallito and Oreo biscuits, Tang beverages, Trident gum and Halls candy, announced today that it has chosen Costa Rica as the location for a new Employee services (Human Resources) center that will support its North America business. The company confirmed tha...

US Commerce Department building. Wikimedia Commons June 8 2015 -US Dept. of Commerce- American businesses are expanding their networks to include Central American countries as additional markets for their goods and services. With assistance from the Commerce Department’s Foreign Commercial Service, two U.S. companies are establishing new global export markets within Costa Rica. The first co...

RACINE, Wis., June 9, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- SC Johnson announced it ranked number two out of 88 companies on the 2015 Great Place To Work list in Central America. SC Johnson Costa Rica has been recognized by the Great Place to Work® Institute as a Top 5 company for eight consecutive years. "Being recognized by Great Place to Work in Central America is a testament to the company's commitment to p...

Sylvania Costa Rica By Carolina Ruiz Global unit shipments of LED lamps and modules are expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 19% between 2015 and 2024, revealed the latest Navigant Research report on this matter. This report analyzes the global market for LED lamps and modules across all major space lighting uses, as well as market issues, including drivers and tre...

Wikimedia Commons RANCHO DOMINGUEZ, CA, Jun 02, 2015 (Marketwired via COMTEX) -- Dependable Global Express (DGX) is pleased to announce an increase in the frequency of current sailings of less-than-container-load ("LCL") shipments from the West Coast of the United States into the West Coast ports of Central and South America. Moving to a weekly sailing schedule, effective immediately, include ...

Pets love Otentik sunshades Millions of people around the world suffer from skin cancer conditions that can be minimized or prevented by lowering exposure to the harmful ultraviolet (UV) rays of the Sun. According to the American Cancer Society, melanoma skin cancer is often caused by overexposure to the UV radiation from the Sun, and this is an important matter to consider in Costa Rica, a na...

ICT Press Release -- Throughout May and June 858 movie theaters located in some of the cities with a large concentration of ‘best prospects’ in the US and Canada will screen the promotional video from the international publicity campaign titled: Save The Americans, Save The Canadians, respectively. According to Mauricio Ventura, Minister of Tourism, the different tactics that complement the cam...

Nearly 100 participants from Latin America and the Caribbean learned how to apply credit union advocacy lessons in their respective countries. Source: CU Insight SAN JOSE, COSTA RICA (May 29, 2015) CU Insight Press Release — CUNA Chief Advocacy Officer Ryan Donovan and Senior Vice President of the League of Southeastern Credit Unions and Affiliates Jared Ross shared best practices and key prin...

BREVARD, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Gaia Herbs™, the leading herbal brand in North America, extends an invitation to meet your herbs like never before with the newly expanded iteration of the company’s groundbreaking online herb transparency platform. MeetYourHerbs®, which is the only website of its kind in the Natural Products Industry, continues Gaia’s commitment to traceability and accountability, ...

Pixabay Commons By Carolina Ruiz Vega Visual fatigue, exhaustion, stress, and headaches… Improper lighting can make you feel sick; the right lighting, on the other hand, can benefit your performance, your health, and even your mood. Illumination conditions are known to influence people’s moods and productivity. Several studies have shown this relationship; research by Cornell Universi...

BICSA in Panama. Wikimedia Commons NEW YORK & SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Fitch Ratings has affirmed Banco Internacional de Costa Rica's (BICSA) Issuer Default Rating (IDR) at 'BB+' and its Viability Rating (VR) at 'bb' following a peer review of Panama's midsized banks. Fitch also affirmed BICSA's National Ratings in Panama. The Rating Outlook for the bank's IDR and Long-T...

New Bennigan's look. Wikimedia Commons SAN SALVADOR, EL SALVADOR (May 20, 2015) – Bennigan’s has long been one of the most popular American restaurant brands across the globe. Its focus on chef-driven food, innovative drinks and friendly Irish hospitality has helped it stand apart from other concepts that have come and gone over the years. Today, Legendary Restaurant Brands, owner of the ic...

Washington, May 20 (EFE).- The U.S. government said Wednesday that five of the world's largest banks have agreed to pay a combined total of nearly $3 billion in criminal fines and penalties for rigging currency rates. Those global financial institutions "for years participated in a brazen display of collusion and foreign exchange rate market manipulation and will as a result pay a total of near...

Washington, May 19 (EFE).- Japanese auto parts maker Takata agreed to recall more than 33 million vehicles in the United States, acknowledging that the air bags it installed in them are defective and could cause serious injury to motorists. The U.S. Department of Transportation and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said Tuesday at a Washington press conference that Takata has a...

Wikimedia Commons Bogota, May 6 (EFE).- Colombia's first organic puree brand, which boasts chemical- and preservative-free ingredients and environmentally friendly packaging, is looking to compete in Latin America's baby-food market, having already begun expanding to the neighboring countries of Ecuador and Panama. Baby Faves Organics has been sold since last year by Colombia-based Odaco Gr...

Washington, May 12 (EFE).- The volume of remittances received in Latin America last year topped the previous high of $65 billion reached in 2008, the Inter-American Development Bank said Tuesday, crediting the increase to an improving U.S. economy. Remittances to Latin America and the Caribbean in 2014 totaled $65.38 billion, according to figures compiled by the IDB. The economic crisis cont...

AOL New York, May 12 (EFE).- Telecom giant Verizon Communications Inc. said Tuesday it was acquiring digital content provider AOL Inc. for $4.4 billion. Verizon is paying $50 per share for AOL, a premium of 17.4 percent over the stock's closing price of $42.59 on Monday. "Verizon's vision is to provide customers with a premium digital experience based on a global multiscreen network plat...