Latin America regulators spared their economies from further pain by forcing banks to save more cash ahead of the global financial crisis, a Bank for International Settlements study said.
Several bank regulators in Latin America boosted reserve requirements - the fraction of bank deposits held by central banks - before the global financial crisis hit in September 2008 and then eased those reserves as the crisis worsened.
Those moves slightly alleviated the whipsaw of easy loans and tight credit that hit regional economies, the BIS said in its quarterly review.
"Adjustments in reserve requirements may have helped to stabilise interbank rates and influence market rates in a way that moderated capital flows," the BIS said.
Tinkering with reserve requirements can be a useful tool to force banks to curtail lending without raising interest rates - a step that attracts foreign investors.