Top Venezuelan bank Banesco's chairman slams state takeover, arrests

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

WORLD NEWS MAY 4, 2018 / 11:25 AM / UPDATED 7 MINUTES AGO

Top Venezuelan bank Banesco's chairman slams state takeover, arrests

Alexandra Ulmer, Brian Ellsworth
4 MIN READ

CARACAS (Reuters) - The chairman of Venezuela’s top bank Banesco on Friday condemned the arrest of 11 executives and a 90-day state takeover of the lender as locals thronged cash machines and sped up transfers to other institutions.

In the biggest crackdown on the financial sector since late leftist leader Hugo Chavez, the government of his successor President Nicolas Maduro said on Thursday it was targeting Banesco for “attacks” against the OPEC country’s rapidly depreciating currency.

Maduro may be seeking to please his socialist constituency ahead of a May 20 presidential election by taking a tough line on businesses, which he says are responsible for hyperinflation and chronic product shortages.

But many Venezuelans now worry the government is seeking to gain control over remittances by Venezuelan emigrees, which generally end up being deposited in banks such as Banesco.

“There are no financial reasons to justify an administrative intervention - not for one day, much less for 90,” wrote Banesco Chairman Juan Carlos Escotet in a letter posted on Twitter. “The key is to understand that the current problem is not caused by Banesco or any other financial institution.”

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Read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-venezuela-bank/top-venezuelan-bank-banescos-chairman-slams-state-takeover-arrests-idUSKBN1I51WU?il=0

[GatoGordo]

1. They have already taken over all the other bigger banks previously

Banesco was all that is left.

Chavismo telegraphed this punch months in advance. Cabello "offered" Banesco a buyout for a couple million dollars (what Chavismo thinks a bank is worth in Bolivars!) All of the real financial assets have long since been moved out of Venezuela YEARS ago. Banesco is basically just a giant ATM that moves worthless Bolivars around. It doesn't make loans and it doesn't do much more than work as an electronic ledger.

And 90 days... that is a joke. Chavez gave himself "temporary, 6 month emergency powers" to save the economy years ago... and he has been dead since 2013. And Maduro just keeps on keeping on.

Fear not! What Maduro hasn't been able to do in the last 5 years, he will do after he gets magically elected in 2 weeks.