Ecuadorian Banking Threatens to Sell its Assets in Foreign Lands

Cesar Robalino

The third meeting of the Economic Commission of the Assembly, prepared itself to debate the project of Social Expense Redistribution Bill, which invited the Association of Private Banks to hear their stand about it. In the end they only see one solution to the proposal of the Executive: the filing.

Joaquin Morillo, executive director of the Association, said that he did not disagree with the increase of the Human Development Bonus (BDH for its Spanish acronym), but he did express his discomfort that his sector is the one to absorb the cost. Meanwhile Ramiro Teran (MPD) seized the statement to propose that other private sectors collaborate financing the social expense. However there was no answer because that is precisely the concern of the private businesses, that their activity gets loaded with new taxes.

Meanwhile the official spokesmen of the banks, Cesar Robalino, denied giving declarations after the president of the Commission, Paco Velasco, arrived one hour late to the Assembly. Their contempt was such that the bank representatives abandoned the room at 09:50 (they were called to 09:00) and they ran into Velasco in the elevator. After apologizing several times, he managed to get them back into the room and have the dialogue, which was no exempt of harsh interventions. Even Eduardo Carmigniani, executive advisor of the bank syndicate, stated that the imposed reform would force shareholders to sell their business in foreign lands.

Around 11:50 Robalino intervened and warned, “the political power and the assemblymen would be the ones responsible for any problem that the bank has.” When the bankers ended their exposition, Carlos Marx Carrasco, IRS director, and Patricio Rivera, minister of Finances, defended and assured that the reform has already most of the Assemblymen favor. AV