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The Banca Privada d’ Andorra (BPA) is still having ‘tied up’ the funds of its clients and the cases are not being handled, after nearly two years since the Financial Crimes Division of the Treasury Department of the United States (FinCEN) did accuse of being involved in activities of “international money-laundering” and having links to Russian and Chinese criminal organizations. No matter that through its fiduciary nature, it has a preponderant duty with their depositors and creditors who have entrusted them with their assets for over 58 years and to which they must respond quickly to any problems that has arisen.

The sinister linking of BPA to the alleged money laundering, levelled to ground the reputation of the today questioned bank entity, which generated total mistrust between the clients and led to a wave of massive withdrawals in the various entities and subsidiaries around the world. To put a halt to this action, BPA limited the client withdrawals to 2 thousand 500 Euros per week for all accounts, which is considered illegal.

The reality is that BPA never safeguarded the interests of its depositors who remain at risk, and now more evident of the necessity to proceed with taking control of the administrative and operating work being carried out since the March 10 of 2015.

As a result of heavy media attack that was generated, the clients of the BPA have responded, as was to be expected, with anxiety and mistrust to the information poured and that ended with the reputation of the banking which was detached completely from the international financial system, and removed the backup in its subsidiaries around the world. After having suffered the bailout of important clients, it had to merge into VallBanc to avoid the imminent bankruptcy.

Now its trampled reputation has caused it to lose confidence and become a threat to the great fortunes and clients with high net-worth, that were attracted by the shelter offered by the financial secrecy protection with offshore accounts, such accounts that BPA never respected.

Inadmissible in this case, is clients that passed the demanding audit that PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) made to ordain what accounts were suspected of money laundering and which not, and at the end of the day were migrated to VallBanc, are still having problems retrieving their savings after 20 months. The Government of the United States has already indicated these funds as legal.

The executives of VallBanc, give few answers to those affected and cannot offer guarantees to sell their assets. Not even can they be transferred to other entities in the Principality, since the blocking of the activity applies to all type of operations. The clients have been informed that for now they will not be able to sell any securities or bonds, among others, that they purchase during the BPA time, and they are urged to return every month to the offices to resume the operation, which is a vile deception.

The basic problem is that VallBanc began to operate without having any entities acting as correspondent bank. The Ministry of Economy, led by Jordi Cinca, and AREB had problems to find an entity to take up on that role before starting the migration of assets, and this caused the delay in the Plan of Resolution of BPA.

Time went against them and therefore they chose to award the new bank and start the activity, derivatives from the Plan of Dissolution of BPA, and wagered to solve the collateral problems caused as they arose. However, none of the managers of the new Bank of the Principality has been able to take responsibility for setting a date for it.

The “high standing” of the Andorran banking, that was 22% compared to the international requirement of 10,5%, was proven to never have been a relief to the savers. The State Agency for Resolution of Banking Institutions (AREB) has not done anything to review the cases of the depositors in Europe, in spite of having been established by the Spanish Government.

At the end, not even the Government of Andorra, with a budget of 400 million euros, was able to come to the rescue of the financial system or to act as a lender to avoid a liquidity crisis, which dragged on in distrust and discredit to its main subsidiary, the Bank of Madrid, acquired in 2011 by BPA.

The tiny principality of Andorra is known as a tax haven since 1957, which contributes substantially to the European economy thanks to the banking secrecy in their jurisdiction coupled with a tax policy that is very low, and in certain cases, even non-existent for some goods or services.

Since start, BPA was providing attractive banking services to clients from all over the world, under the concept of tax haven and through the opening of accounts in multiple currencies, competitive interest rates, trusts and other benefits. All that brought the attention of hundreds of savers who saw Andorra as a destination to diversify its assets, without knowing that they would live the worst of their nightmares.

El Calvario BPA suma y sigue…

21/11/2016/in Andorra, BPA & VALLBANC, En Español /by BankAdmin

Sin importarle en lo absoluto que por su naturaleza fiduciaria, tiene un preponderante deber con sus depositantes y acreedores que confiaron sus activos por más de 58 años y a los que debe responder con celeridad frente a los inconvenientes que surgieron, a casi dos años desde que la División de Crímenes Financieros del Departamento de Tesoro de Estados Unidos (FINCEN) la acusó de estar involucrada en actividades de “lavado de dinero internacional” y tener vinculación a organizaciones criminales rusas y chinas, la Banca Privada de Andorra (BPA) mantiene atados los fondos de sus depositantes y los casos no están siendo atendidos.

La siniestra vinculación de BPA al presunto blanqueo de capitales, dejó por los suelos la reputación de la hoy cuestionada entidad bancaria, que generó total desconfianza entre los ahorradores, lo que propició una ola de retiros masivos en las diversas entidades y filiales en todo el mundo. Para frenar esta acción, BPA limitó el retiro a los clientes a 2 mil 500 Euros por semana en todas las cuentas, lo que se considera una ilegalidad.

La realidad es que BPA nunca salvaguardó los intereses de sus depositantes que siguen corriendo peligro y cada vez se hace necesario proceder con la toma del control administrativo y operativo que se lleva a cabo desde el 10 de marzo del 2015.

Como consecuencia del intenso golpeteo mediático que se generó, los depositantes del BPA respondieron, como era de esperarse, con ansiedad y desconfianza frente a las informaciones que vertieron y que acabó con la reputación de la banca la cual quedó desligada completamente del sistema financiero internacional, que le retiró el respaldo en sus filiales en todo el mundo. Al sufrir la salida de importantes clientes, tuvo que fusionarse con Vall Banc para evitar su inminente quiebra.

Ahora su pisoteada reputación le ha valido perder la confianza y convertirse en una amenaza para las grandes fortunas y clientes con altos patrimonios que se vieron atraídos por el cobijo financiero que supone la protección del secreto bancario con cuentas offshore, mismo que BPA nunca respetó.

Lo inadmisible de este caso, es que los clientes que pasaron la exigente auditoría que PwC realizó para decretar qué cuentas eran sospechosas de blanquear capitales y cuáles no, y a la postre han sido migrados a Vall Banc, después de 20 meses continúan teniendo problemas para recuperar sus ahorros que ya fue demostrado por el Gobierno de Estados Unidos que son legales.

Los ejecutivos de Vall Banc, dan pocas respuestas a los afectados y no pueden ofrecer garantías para vender sus activos. Ni siquiera se pueden traspasar a otras entidades del Principado, ya que el bloqueo de la actividad se aplica a todo tipo de operaciones. Les comunican que por ahora no podrán vender los títulos o bonos, entre otros, que compraron en la etapa de BPA, y se les insta a regresar cada mes a las oficinas para reiniciar la operación, lo cual resulta un vil engaño.

El problema de fondo es que Vall Banc empezó a operar sin entidades que actuaran de corresponsal. El Ministerio de Economía, encabezado por Jordi Cinca, y la AREB tuvieron problemas para encontrar una entidad que ejerciera ese papel antes de iniciar la migración de activos y eso provocó el retraso del plan de resolución de BPA.

El tiempo jugó en su contra, por lo que optaron por adjudicar el nuevo banco e iniciar la actividad, derivadas del plan de disolución de BPA y apostaron a solucionar sobre la marcha los problemas colaterales provocados. Con todo, ningún responsable del nuevo banco del Principado se ha responsabilizado a fijar una fecha para ello.