Responsible Banking Or not so….
This article comes under the category of “Folks, please do not check your brains in at customs”.
The list of banks in Panama are registered at this site and are highly regulated in Panama. If they are not listed then they are not a bank. There is no FDIC insurance here so the stockholders of the banks take business very seriously unlike the banks that gave away money in the US before the crisis or invested in subprime instruments. To my knowledge none of the banks here were damaged by the fiasco that struck worldwide in 2008. I continue to keep my money in two good banks here in Panama.
Non Banks
Pronto Cash, COACCESS and more non-banks have been investigated and in some cases seized and shut down for problems as was noted in July of this year on one credit union when the governing body issued Resolution JD/11/2012, authorizing the intervention, indicated that the audit that was carried out “details an alarming deterioration of financial and administrative organization at this cooperative and that such circumstances pose a serious risk to the investments by the cooperative and therefore the money from partners and third parties.
Now with good investigative reporting Don Winner of the Panama Guide reports on Financial Pacific Inc here in Panama. I always like the flashy full page ads in the best travel magazines in Panama. As they say in fishing, you have to have a good presentation of the bait in the water behind the boat and evidently they did.
Panama Superintendency of Securities Takes Control Of Pacific Financial Inc.
The Pacific Financial Inc. brokerage firm, dedicated to the management of foreign investment, is subject to a process of reorganization, effective October 16, as revealed by a resolution issued by the Superintendency of Securities. The Superintendent has appointed the attorney Maruquel Gisela Pabón Ramírez to reorganize the brokerage firm for a period of 30 days, after which a report must be filed in order to preserve the solvency of the institution.
The reorganization has its antecedents in a formal investigation by the Superintendency of Securities, after an unidentified investor in Pacific Financial submit a complaint to the regulator “on the management of his investment account.”
In addition to this, in March the Superintendent ordered a special investigation into the brokerage firm regarding the possible “massive and public offering of shares that are not registered.”
In October, the general managers of the Stock Exchange and the Latinclear Central Securities , Roberto Brenes and Ivan Diaz, respectively, sent to the Superintendent a communication indicating there was a difference between the “cash balance recorded in the accounts of [its] customers […] with bank balances […] for approximately seven million dollars.” OOOOPPPPSSS!!
Also in October, the Superintendent ordered an administrative investigation into the brokerage firm because it had found they had “fixed term accounts that had not been revealed” in financial statements.
At the end of 2011, Financial Pacific was the fourth largest brokerage firm in Panama, according to their investment portfolio, having a total of $135.2 million dollars under their management. The firm had experienced a fall of 14.4% in this amount between 2010 and 2011. Its directors are West Valdés, Iván Clare Arias, Ori Sasson Zbeda and Ana Dora Levy de Zbeda.
We (La Prensa) tried to contact the office managers, but at press time had not received a response. (Prensa)
$7 Million Dollars Apparently Missing From Financial Pacific Inc. in Panama
A difference of seven million dollars between the amounts recorded and the reality of the bank accounts of the brokerage firm Financial Pacific, Inc. was one of the causes that led to its reorganization. The reorganization was ordered on 16 October by the Superintendency of Securities, which appointed the attorney Maruquel Gisela Pabon de Ramirez to conduct the proceedings.
According to the resolution from the Superintendency that ordered the reorganization, on 10 October 2012 the regulator received from Roberto Brenes and Ivan Diaz, the GMs of the Panama Stock Exchange and the Central Latinoamericana de Valores, respectively, a communication that alerted them of a possible irregularity.
The letter states that a routine inspection by both equities revealed that “the cash balance recorded [of Financial Pacific, Inc.] in the accounts of its customers does not match the investment bank balances these accounts should have by the amount of approximately seven million dollars.”
It was learned the reorganization team seeks to complete an analysis of the Financial Pacific situation within the 30-day period granted by the resolution, in order to determine the actions to be taken.
La Prensa also obtained information that the managers of the brokerage firm have filed a criminal complaint against one of their employees for unauthorized transactions. (Prensa)
More to follow I am sure!!