Brazil's central bank ordered on Wednesday the liquidation of Will Financeira SA, a unit of ​troubled lender Banco Master, in the latest drastic step involving ‌illiquid institutions tied to the conglomerate, Reuters reported. The move comes a day after Mastercard said that it ‌had suspended Will Bank cards from its network due to non-compliance with settlement schedules under its payments arrangement.

Brazil's Supreme Court Justice Dias Toffoli has allowed a prosecutor's request for banks to freeze assets belonging to Brazilian entrepreneur Nelson Tanure due to an investigation into lender Banco Master, according to a document made public last Friday, Reuters reported. The request was made by the country's Prosecutor General's Office. The mid-sized bank was liquidated by the central bank last November.

Four Venezuelan banks were notified this week by the ​country's government that they will split $300 million of oil revenues deposited in an account in ‌Qatar, enabling them to sell dollars to Venezuelan companies that need foreign exchange to pay for materials, two financial sources and an analyst said, Reuters reported. The injection of foreign capital comes after weeks of tightening supplies of dollars, as the U.S. seized Venezuelan oil tankers and hit the country's top revenue flow.

Brazil's central bank ordered on Thursday the liquidation of brokerage REAG, currently known as CBSF, according to a document signed by Governor Gabriel Galipolo, in the latest fallout from the collapse of mid-sized lender Banco Master, Reuters reported. The move "was prompted by serious violations of the rules governing the activities of institutions that are part of the national financial system", the central bank said in a statement.

Brazilian steel-to-energy conglomerate CSN plans to divest key assets to reduce its heavy debt burden as high interest rates squeeze financing and weigh on investment, Bloomberg News reported. The group, controlled by the billionaire Steinbruch family, has hired advisers to sell a significant stake in CSN Infraestrutura — which owns ports, railways and a logistics company — as well as control of its cement unit. The company aims to sign deals in the second half of the year.

Brazil's federal police served search and seizure warrants against businessmen Daniel Vorcaro and Nelson Tanure on Wednesday as part of an investigation into alleged fraud at Banco Master, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. The raids are part of the second phase of a police operation launched ‌in November, which at the time led to Vorcaro's arrest on the same ​day the Brazilian central bank ordered Banco Master's liquidation. Vorcaro was later released, but had to wear an ankle monitor.

As U.S. President Donald Trump moves quickly to put together a $100 billion effort to revive Venezuela's oil industry, the administration has yet to finalize the fate of the crown jewel of the country's foreign assets, U.S. refining company Citgo Petroleum, Reuters reported. Houston-based ​Citgo has been tied up in the lengthy auction of its parent, PDV Holding, organized by a Delaware court to pay billions of dollars to creditors for ‌debt defaults and expropriations in Venezuela.

Nicolás Maduro helped make tether the world’s dominant stablecoin. And with the former Venezuelan leader now sitting in a Brooklyn jail, the cryptocurrency’s central role in his nation’s economy is back in the spotlight, the Wall Street Journal reported. Tether emerged as a vital tool for the state-run oil company to sidestep sanctions, serving as the currency for settling oil transactions. It also has offered a financial lifeline to everyday Venezuelans racked by the tumbling value of their home currency, the bolivar.

Western oil companies have been fighting to recoup tens of billions of dollars that they say Venezuela owes them — debts that could play a prominent role in efforts by President Trump to compel U.S. businesses to produce more oil in the country, the New York Times reported. Exxon Mobil and ConocoPhillips top the list of oil companies with big financial claims against Venezuela, whose president, Nicolás Maduro, was captured by U.S. forces over the weekend in Caracas.

The Trump administration plans to control future sales of Venezuelan oil and hold the proceeds in U.S. accounts, Energy Secretary Chris Wright said, making the clearest statement yet on Washington’s strategy to bring the impoverished nation’s crude to market and control its most valuable resource, Bloomberg News reported. Wright, who spoke at a Goldman Sachs Group Inc. conference in Miami Wednesday, said initially the barrels would come from crude Venezuela is holding in storage, which has been filling up amid the U.S. blockade and threatening to force some production off line.