The earnings, which were also helped by expanded foreign trade financing, were the highest of any foreign bank in Brazil.
Any renewed financial market jitters could affect investment and the trade financing that oils the wheels of international trade, economists caution.
Consular services that guide companies through foreign markets are one form of support; trade finance is another, particularly since the seizure in financial markets impaired private trade financing.
The law prohibited trade financing to such countries by the Export-Import Bank or by OPIC, the agency started by Mr. Salzman's father.
cautioned that the improvement in February may have been in part due to a technical rebound and a gradual normalization in trade financing.
London Forfaiting, the trade financing group, managed a remarkable recovery yesterday despite reporting a loss of more than £56 million for the calendar year of 1988.
"Trade financing is one of the safest lending activities, and it is very simple," said Jean-François Lambert, global head of trade finance at HSBC in London.
The deal, hashed out by Representatives Steny H. Hoyer of Maryland, the House minority whip, and Eric Cantor of Virginia, the House majority leader, would increase the bank's trade financing lending limit to $140 billion over three years.
But to ease the increase in bilateral trade, he added, India and Pakistan will have to focus on many other issues like visas, trade financing, cross-border banking transactions, foreign-direct investment regulations and investment flows.
The bank, Mr. Millman said, makes no consumer loans but offers businesses — today's clients are mostly professional services — an unusual range of products for a community bank, including asset-based lending, factoring, trade financing, and until recently leasing.
