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Mexico’s Banking Commission Intervenes After 3 Financial Institutions Sanctioned by US
The three financial institutions rejected any involvement in money laundering activities and expressed their willingness to cooperate with authorities.
Mexico’s National Banking and Securities Commission (CNBV) ordered a temporary intervention in three Mexican financial institutions that were sanctioned by the United States on June 25 for alleged money laundering for drug trafficking.
The CNBV decreed the temporary management intervention of two Mexican banks: CI Banco, S.A. Institución de Banca Múltiple, and Intercam Banco, S.A. Institución de Banca Múltiple, Intercam Grupo Financiero. Management intervention was also imposed on a brokerage firm, Vector Casa de Bolsa, S.A. de C.V.
“The intervention aims to replace their administrative bodies and legal representatives in order to safeguard the rights of savers and customers of these institutions, given the implications that the measures announced by the U.S. Department of the Treasury may have on these banks,” the CNBV reported in a statement on June 26.
“The financial authorities remain confident in the strength and resilience of the Mexican financial system and will continue to work in permanent coordination to promote the stability, integrity, and proper functioning of the system,” it added.
The CNBV is a decentralized body of Mexico’s Ministry of Finance and Public Credit (SHCP), empowered to authorize, regulate, supervise, and sanction the various entities that make up the Mexican financial system, according to its website.
The measure was implemented after the U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned the three financial institutions this week for alleged money laundering for Mexican drug cartels. Among those mentioned are the Jalisco Nueva Generación cartel (CJNG), the Beltrán Leyva cartel, the Gulf cartel, and the Sinaloa cartel. The sanctions prohibit U.S. financial institutions from participating in the transfer of funds to or from CIBanco, Intercam, or Vector.
The three financial institutions rejected any involvement in money laundering activities and expressed their willingness to cooperate with Mexican and U.S. authorities in separate statements.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said Thursday that the SHCP and the Financial Intelligence Unit (UIF) considered the information in the U.S. Treasury statement to be very general.
“If there is more information that really implies conclusive evidence of money laundering, so that it can be reviewed by Mexican institutions, both the UIF and the National Banking and Securities Commission, which is the institution responsible for reviewing financial institutions,” Sheinbaum said at her daily press conference on June 26.
“There was no further information. Even so, the Secretary of Finance has decided to launch an investigation through the National Banking and Securities Commission, given the information that is being presented, and the UIF is doing the same,” she added.
