PNB gets harder to sell

For the Pacific National Bank (PNB) belonging to Banco del Pacifico de Ecuador, based in Miami, to be sold properly, they will have to resolve pending intervention measures with U.S. regulators

It should be noted that next March 28 is the deadline for the sale of the PNB, after failing the test of compliance with rules and policies for laundering, conducted by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC).

According to the financial regulatory agency, between 2000 and 2005, the PNB filed 47 reports of suspicious activity by an amount of $ 136 million. This amount has grown considerably in recent years: from January 2007 through July 2010, these reports rose to 421 and accounted for $ 577 million.

Carl Wolf

Former President of PNB, Carl Wolf, in 2009, reported that he was under pressure of Pedro Delgado, President Rafael Correa’s cousin and now fugitive of Ecuador, to implement a plan in which it was included the reopening of accounts.

Wolf, between 2007 and 2008, closed 4,600 accounts out of 11,000 that recorded the bank because they did not meet anti-money laundering regulations. One of these accounts was that of Cassia Delgado, a relative of President Correa like Pedro Delgado, for allegedly moving a lot of money that did not correspond to her income and refused to explain the origin of the funds.

Cassia Delgado

As for the value of the bank, Andres Baquerizo, Banco del Pacifico President, requested the trustee in charge of the sale to forward the sale on last November, because “as more time passes, the price of the bank can deteriorite due to the possible adverse effects of a prolonged period of uncertainty, which could tangibly affect the Ecuadorian State.“