This article discusses banking in Cuba and gives an overview of the recent past. For details on the Cuban economy in general, see economy of Cuba .
Following the Cuban Revolution of the 1950s, the Cuban banking sector came under the control of the new regime. The new authorities famously appointed Che Guevara as President of the National Bank of Cuba (Spanish : Banco Nacional de Cuba) in 1959. Guevara often retold the apocryphal story of how he gained the job at the bank; Fidel Castro had asked if there were an economista in the room and he had put his hand up – much to Castro's surprise. Guevara had mistakenly thought that Castro had asked for a comunista . [1]
Guevara's appointment seemed somewhat ironic, as he often condemned money, favored its abolition, and showed his disdain by signing Cuban banknotes with his nickname, "Che."
The 1990s saw the restructuring of the Cuban banking system, with new commercial banks created, and a new central bank, "Banco Central de Cuba" set up. The architect of this restructuring, Francisco Soberón, became the first president of the new central bank.
The Central Bank of Cuba (Spanish : Banco Central de Cuba - "BCC") functions as the central bank of Cuba. The Cuban government set it up in 1997 to take over many of the functions of the National Bank of Cuba (Spanish : Banco Nacional de Cuba - BNC). Francisco Soberón Valdés served as the Bank's President from its creation until he stepped down in 2009. He was replaced by Ernesto Medina, who had served as president of the state-run Banco Financiero Internacional since 2003 [2] The President of the Central Bank serves ex officio as a member of the Council of Ministers of Cuba.
As with most Cuban government ministries, the Central Bank acts as both banking regulator and shareholder of much of the Cuban banking system.
Cuba has eight commercial banks, categorisable as follows:
In addition, the Havana International Bank is registered in London.
The Central Bank also regulates a number of other financial institutions, most notably:
Camilo Cienfuegos Gorriarán was a Cuban revolutionary born in Havana. Along with Che Guevara, Fidel Castro, Juan Almeida Bosque, and Raúl Castro, he was a member of the 1956 Granma expedition, which launched Fidel Castro's armed insurgency against the government of Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista. He became one of Castro's top guerrilla commanders, known as the "Hero of Yaguajay" after winning a key battle of the Cuban Revolution. His signature weapons were a M1921AC Thompson and a modified M2 carbine.
The Central Bank of Cuba is the central bank of Cuba. It was created in 1997 to take over many of the functions of the National Bank of Cuba which was established in 1950.
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The Cuban peso also known as moneda nacional, is the official currency of Cuba.
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José Ramón Villa Soberón is a Cuban artist, particularly known for his public sculptures around Havana. He studied at the Escuela Nacional de Arte in Havana, Cuba and the Academy of Plastic Arts in Prague. He is a professor at the Instituto Superior de Arte in Havana. His sculptures, paintings, engravings, drawings and designs are held by the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes de La Habana, and in 1996 he was one of the selected artist in the second Trienal Americana de Escultura in Argentina.
Banking in Nicaragua, prior to 1978, consisted of the Central Bank of Nicaragua and several domestic- and foreign-owned commercial banks. One of the first acts of the Sandinista government in 1979 was to nationalize the country’s banking system, in an "attempt to promote community banking and support the rural poor".
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.
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The Banco Nacional de Crédito (BNC) is a financial institution Venezuelan with private capital specialized in universal banking. It is headquartered in the El Rosal sector of Caracas.
Banesco Banco Universal C.A. is a Venezuelan financial institution whose principal branch is located in Caracas. The bank is part of the Asociación Bancaria de Venezuela.
Banco Occidental de Descuento (BOD) (WDB) it was a Venezuelan bank. With around 6.6% of the Venezuelan market, it was Venezuela's fifth-largest bank in 2009.
Alicia Girón González is the past president of the International Association for Feminist Economics (IAFFE), her tenure was 2014 to 2015. Girón has also served as director of Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México's (UNAM) Economic Research Institute (IIEc).
Cuban economic reforms refer to macroeconomic policies implemented with the aim at stabilising the Cuban economy after 1993. They were initially enacted to offset the economic imbalances which was a result of the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. The reforms focused heavily on the macroeconomic stabilization of the Cuban economy. This was to be achieved through a reduction in fiscal deficit, and through structural changes such as the enactment of the Free Farmer's Market agreement, the legalization of self-employment, and the decriminalization of the United States dollar. The economic reforms resulted in a decrease in inflation, appreciation of the Peso, increase in output and productivity, and an improvement in the fiscal deficit. With the implementation of the 2018 Cuban constitution, came free-market rights, the recognition of private property and of foreign direct investment, officially making Cuba a mixed economy, similar to the Chinese and Vietnamese models, and similar to the Soviet Union under Lenin with the New Economic Policy.
Ibercaja Banco, S.A., stylised as iberCaja, is a Spanish financial services company based in Zaragoza. It was created by the Caja de Ahorros and Monte de Piedad of Zaragoza, Aragón and Rioja (Ibercaja) in 2011, to develop its financial activity, being initially the shareholder of 100% of the bank. After the acquisition of Caja3 by Ibercaja Banco, in the process of banking restructuring in Spain, 87.8% was owned by Ibercaja and 12.2% by the three Caja3 shareholders.
Banco de Talca was a Chilean bank founded in 1884, whose headquarters were in the city of Talca. Most of its operations were concentrated in the Maule and Metropolitan regions. In 1981 it was intervened by the Government and liquidated the following year, due to the debts contracted by the institution and of which its board of directors was accused of fraud.
