Mexican Bankers Put on Brave Face in Wake of US Laundering Blitz

Every other month, Mexico’s bankers gather in a palatial bunker in the colonial center of the capital to dine together and meet with top officials.

July’s meeting was one to remember. The country has just been rocked by one of its worst banking scandals, with the US deploying an unprecedented order accusing three well-known but small firms of potentially facilitating drug trafficking.

Yet the mood among the nation’s top lenders Wednesday was optimistic — at times even defiant — as bankers spoke to the press after the mid-afternoon lunch of squash flower soup, veal cutlets and tiramisu. The event ...