After El Salvador approved a legal framework that recognizes Bitcoin as a legal tender, the cryptocurrency exchange Coincaex announced that at the end of June it will open an office in the country.
Between May and June of this year, the average lending rate of commercial banks has fallen from 11.52% to 10.28%, a drop that is explained by the high level of liquidity of the banks and the low placement of credits.
The pandemic that caused the outbreak of covid-19 has hit the financial system, since due to the current market conditions, the active rates have come down between the months of May and July.
Panamanian authorities announced that as of September 2020, it will begin to exchange financial information automatically with the South American country.
Negotiations between the two countries began in 2019 and at the technical meetings they agreed on the mechanisms that will be used to automatically double-track the information.
The Óptima financial group bought the shares of Financiera Solidaria S.A., a transaction that amounted to $50 million.
Directors of Óptima reported that Financiera Solidaria S.A. (Finsol) has been in the Honduran market for 21 years and that this acquisition is part of its strategy to regionalize the financial company in the micro and small business segments.
The Costa Rican Assembly approved reforms that expand the powers of Sugef to regulate and supervise financial entities abroad and financial companies that are part of a Costa Rican financial group or conglomerate.
On October 15, 41 deputies approved, in the Second Debate, file 21355, which seeks to strengthen the supervisory framework of the Superintendency of Financial Institutions through reforms to chapter IV of the Central Bank Law, the Assembly reported.
The Central Bank of Costa Rica has increased to $27 million the minimum amount of capital required by banks to operate, and to $5 million the minimum amount for financial companies.
Yesterday the Central Bank agreement which establishes the changes was published in the official newspaper, La Gaceta, The minimum operating capital for private banks increased by 5.8%, rising from $25.6 million to $27.1 million.In the case of financial companies, the increase was from $5.1 million to $5.4 million.
The Salvadoran banking system is maintaining stable performance, despite an operating environment deteriorated by a recent increase in the risk rating for sovereign debt.
From a report entitled "Panorama one of El Salvador's Largest Banks in the First Quarter 2017" by Fitch Ratings:
Stable Performance in Difficult Operating Environment
Fitch Ratings notes that the Guatemalan banking system reports one of the lowest rates of delinquency in the region.
From the report 'Panorama of Guatemalan Banks' by Fitch Ratings:
Local Majority Banking System: The largest banks (70% of loans in the system) belong to local shareholders. At the same time, foreign-owned banks increased their share after Bancolombia acquired the controlling stake in Banco Agromercantil de Guatemala, S.A. (BAM).
Crédito Real paid $70 million for a 70% stake in Marevalley Corporation, a Panamanian holding company for the operating entities Instacredit in Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama.
From a statement by Crédito Real:
Mexico City, February 22, 2016. Crédito Real, SAB de CV, SOFOM, ER ("Credito Real") announces the acquisition, through a subsidiary, of 70% of the share capital of Marevalley Corporation, a holding company for Panamanian entities in Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Panama that operate under the brand "Instacredit". This transaction will boost the business diversification of Real Credit.
The beggining of the automatic exchange of information between financial institutions between USA and Panama has been postponed until September 30, 2016.
From a statement issued by the Ministry of Economy and Finance:
The Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) today informd the Panama Banking Association (ABP) that the United States Department of the Treasury announced in writing to the Panamanian government its intention to continue treating the Republic of Panama as if the Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) negotiated between the two countries to implement the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) were in force, provided that Panama continues to demonstrate its willingness to sign it.
Iconi Holding and Intermarket are the companies that the Securities Regulator has warned not have support or supervision in the country.
The Superintendency of Securities (Sugeval) has updated the list of unsupervised and unregulated entities for which reports have been received of possible unauthorized securities offerings, which could even be fraudulent.
The Superintendent of the Financial System has authorized the Savings and Credit Society Multivalores to start operating from December 22.
Sociedad de Ahorro y Crédito Multivalores, whose main shareholder is Nicaraguan, start operations on December 22 and will be headquartered in San Salvador.
Elsalvador.com reports that "... The initial capital for the incorporation of the company Multivalores was $4,000,000, signed in April 2013 and subsequently increased its capital by $2 million, for the purpose of performing operations taking in deposits from the public on current account , through testimony of deed of amendment to the articles of incorporation. "
In addition to the two audits a year, the idea of amending the legislation to increase the oversight of the 161 financial companies registered in the country is being contemplated.
According to the Panamanian authorities it is important to update the legislation and supervision of financial institutions, as it is an important sector which manages $1.17 billion in assets.
The microcredit portfolio in Latin America and the Caribbean is worth over $40 billion, is awarded by more than 1,000 institutions, and reaches more than 22 million customers.
From a statement issued by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB):
A new report documents significant expansion of microcredit in Latin America and the Caribbean
GUAYAQUIL, Ecuador - Microcredit in Latin America and the Caribbean remains strong and continues its expansion of the last decade, experiencing an increase in their number of customers, a variety of institutions and a downward trend in interest rates according to new data released here today by the Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF), a member of the IDB Group.
Although it has not been defined yet which law enforcement model will be adopted in Panama, financial institutions can now register with the IRS directly.
Foreign Financial Institutions have until January 1, 2015 to register with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) of the United States directly. Alberto Diamond, Superintendent of Banks, said the agreement for the implementation of the law is scheduled to be signed in the month of October.
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