SANTO DOMINGO - The Superintendency of Banks (SB) called on depositors of the intervened Banco Múltiple de las Américas (Bancamérica) to validate the information associated with their products, via online or by visiting one of the branches of the financial entity, from nine in the morning to four in the afternoon.
"Validation is an action that forms part of the regulatory security protocol to verify that the natural or legal persons claiming funds are, in fact, the holders of said funds," the SB states in the announcement posted on its website.
The platform allows you to complete the entire process online, requiring interested parties to have scanned copies of the following documents:
- ID card or passport associated with your accounts
- The documents corresponding to the deposits (certificates, passbooks, debit cards, etc.).
- Legal entities must have some corporate or institutional document that allows associating the person who is validating with the depositor (commercial registry, minutes of assembly or of the board of directors, sealed power of representation, etc.)
The entity reiterates that it is carrying out an orderly dissolution of Bancamérica, in accordance with the Monetary and Financial Law, and that it is working intensively to restore customers' access to their savings as soon as possible, in accordance with current regulations.
Dissolution process
The Superintendency of Banks (SB) intervened in Banco Múltiple Las Américas (Bancamérica) last Wednesday morning due to alleged non-compliance with the regularization plan agreed upon with the financial institution in 2019 and a low solvency ratio. This financial institution had been accumulating losses of approximately RD$711 million since 2015. The last time it reported profits of RD$14.2 million was in 2014. According to its accounts commissioner, the institution lost RD$162.9 million in 2020 and another RD$201.7 million in 2019.
Article 46, section E, of the Monetary and Financial Law 183-02 requires a solvency ratio of at least 10%. The legislation stipulates that multiple banks and credit institutions that do not meet this solvency ratio will be considered regulatoryly insolvent. The chairman of Bancamérica's board of directors is Víctor Vargas Irausquín, who has faced legal proceedings in several countries and Panamanian for alleged fraud .
Bancámerica operates nine branches in the Dominican Republic, including its headquarters on the corner of Francisco Prats Ramírez and Padre Emiliano streets in the Evaristo Morales neighborhood of Santo Domingo. It also has offices in Barahona, Vicente Noble, and Neiba in the southern region, as well as a recently opened branch in Punta Cana.
