Industry | Finance and Insurance |
---|---|
Founded | 1982 |
Defunct | 2010 |
Headquarters | Caracas, Venezuela |
Products | Financial services |
Banco Federal was a Venezuelan bank based in Caracas. At the end of April 2010 it was the country's 11th-largest bank, with deposits of 7.66 billion bolivars, or 2.82 percent of total deposits in the banking system. [1] In June 2010 the bank was taken over by Venezuela's banking regulator. It had been told to expand its capital base by 1.5bn bolivars (around $350m), and had only raised B100m. [1] At least 12 other banks had been taken over since November 2009 after speculation about bank insolvency. [1]
On 14 June 2010 Victor Vargas, head of Venezuela's National Banking Council, indicated that he supported the takeover. "Vargas said he's sorry the takeover of Banco Federal had to occur but indicated he supported the government action by saying that sometimes interventions are necessary to keep the overall banking system running smoothly." [2] Banco Federal is to be liquidated by the government. [3]
Banco Federal's President Nelson Mezerhane owned a 25.8% stake in TV station Globovisión. After the state intervention, the government took over the Globovisión stake.[ citation needed ]
The bolívar is the official currency of Venezuela. Named after the hero of South American independence Simón Bolívar, it was introduced by President Guzman Blanco via the monetary reform of 1879, before which the venezolano was circulating. Due to its decades-long reliance on silver and gold standards, and then on a peg to the United States dollar, it was long considered among the most stable currencies.
A bank run or run on the bank occurs when many clients withdraw their money from a bank, because they believe the bank may fail in the near future. In other words, it is when, in a fractional-reserve banking system, numerous customers withdraw cash from deposit accounts with a financial institution at the same time because they believe that the financial institution is, or might become, insolvent. When they transfer funds to another institution, it may be characterized as a capital flight. As a bank run progresses, it may become a self-fulfilling prophecy: as more people withdraw cash, the likelihood of default increases, triggering further withdrawals. This can destabilize the bank to the point where it runs out of cash and thus faces sudden bankruptcy. To combat a bank run, a bank may acquire more cash from other banks or from the central bank, or limit the amount of cash customers may withdraw, either by imposing a hard limit or by scheduling quick deliveries of cash, encouraging high-return term deposits to reduce on-demand withdrawals or suspending withdrawals altogether.
Banco Santander S.A. trading as Santander Group, is a Spanish multinational financial services company based in Madrid and Santander in Spain. Additionally, Santander maintains a presence in most global financial centres as the 19th-largest banking institution in the world. Although known for its European banking operations, it has extended operations across North and South America, and more recently in continental Asia. It is considered a systemically important bank by the Financial Stability Board.
"Too big to fail" (TBTF) is a theory in banking and finance that asserts that certain corporations, particularly financial institutions, are so large and so interconnected that their failure would be disastrous to the greater economic system, and therefore should be supported by government when they face potential failure. The colloquial term "too big to fail" was popularized by U.S. Congressman Stewart McKinney in a 1984 Congressional hearing, discussing the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation's intervention with Continental Illinois. The term had previously been used occasionally in the press, and similar thinking had motivated earlier bank bailouts.
Orlando Castro Llanes was a Venezuelan businessman whose financial empire of banks and insurance agencies collapsed in 1994 and was subsequently convicted and imprisoned in the United States.
The government interventions during the subprime mortgage crisis were a response to the 2007–2009 subprime mortgage crisis and resulted in a variety of government bailouts that were implemented to stabilize the financial system during late 2007 and early 2008.
In the period September 2007 to December 2009, during the Global Financial Crisis, the UK government intervened financially to support the UK banking sector, and four UK banks in particular.
Banco de Venezuela is an international universal bank based in Caracas. It was the market leader in Venezuela until 2007, when it fell to third place, with an 11.3% market share for deposits; its major competitors are Banesco, Banco Mercantil and BBVA Banco Provincial. As of June 2008, it had 285 branches in Venezuela.
Lloyds Banking Group plc is a British financial institution formed through the acquisition of HBOS by Lloyds TSB in 2009. It is one of the UK's largest financial services organisations, with 30 million customers and 65,000 employees. Lloyds Bank was founded in 1765 but the wider Group's heritage extends over 320 years, dating back to the founding of the Bank of Scotland by the Parliament of Scotland in 1695.
BDT Banco Digital de los Trabajadores, Banco Universal C.A. is a bank based in Caracas. It was created in late 2009 through the merger with the existing state-owned bank Banfoandes, the banks Bolívar, Central and Confederado and after BaNorte Bank, nationalised as a result of the 2009 banking crisis. The new bank holds around 20% of Venezuelan bank deposits.
Ricardo Fernández Barrueco is a Venezuelan businessman, whose net worth was estimated in 2005 at $1.6bn with "a web of 270 companies in industries as diverse as tuna-fishing and banking". Fernandez' Proarepa Group is one of the largest suppliers to the Venezuelan Mercal chain of subsidised state-owned supermarkets.
Banco Latino was a Venezuelan bank based in Caracas, and at the time of its 1994 failure was the country's second largest. It had a good relationship with the government, such that ministries moved their accounts to the bank, and the army and the state-owned oil company PDVSA entrusted their pension funds to Latino trust managers. Latino built a new high-rise headquarters, and expanded aggressively, both within Venezuela and overseas.
The 1994 banking crisis occurred in Venezuela when a number of the banks of Venezuela were taken over by the government. The first to fail, in January 1994, was Banco Latino, the country's second-largest bank. Later, two banks accounting for 18% of total deposits also failed. The crisis led the President Rafael Caldera to suspend constitutional rights in order to impose price controls, exposure of deep corruption in the Venezuelan banking system, and the resignation of Finance Minister Julio Sosa Rodriguez.
Banco Occidental de Descuento (BOD) (WDB) was a Venezuelan bank. With around 6.6% of the Venezuelan market, it was Venezuela's fifth-largest bank in 2009.
The 2009–2010 banking crisis occurred in Venezuela when a number of the banks of Venezuela were taken over by the government, after "the revelation that several banks owned by Hugo Chavez supporters were in financial trouble after engaging in questionable business practices. Some were seriously undercapitalized, others were apparently lending large sums of money to top executives, and at least one financier couldn't prove where he got the money to buy his banks in the first place." In November and December 2009 seven banks were taken over, accounting for around 12% of total deposits. In 2010 more banks were taken over. The government arrested at least 16 bankers and issued more than 40 corruption-related arrest warrants for others who had fled the country.
The second presidency of Rafael Caldera took place from 1994 to 1999. Caldera had previously been President from 1969 to 1974.
ABANCA Corporación Bancaria, S.A. is a Spanish bank based in Galicia. It was created in September in 2011 following the "bankisation" of Novacaixagalicia savings bank. It operates in the autonomous communities of Galicia, Asturias and the province of León, in other parts of Spain and in Portugal, as well as offices in the UK, Germany, France, Switzerland, Brazil, Venezuela, Panama, Mexico and the USA.
A public bank is a bank, a financial institution, in which a state, municipality, or public actors are the owners. It is an enterprise under government control. Prominent among current public banking models are the Bank of North Dakota, the Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe in Germany, and many nations' postal bank systems.
Victor Vargas is a Venezuelan banker and businessman, best known for being the former owner and president of the now defunct 14th largest private bank in Venezuela, Banco Occidental de Descuento.
Gustavo Adolfo Gómez López is a Venezuelan lawyer, banker and businessman of Spanish ancestry. Founder of the law firm Gómez López & Asociados, he was president of Banco Latino and its group of companies until 1994. Currently, he practices his profession and is a member of the boards of directors of several media outlets and insurance companies.