Panama cash card gets government audit

Pronto Cash. a form of debit card, which allows holders to deposit money is not authorized by Panama’s  Superintendency of Banks say the authority.

Superintendent Alberto Diamond  told Panama America that Pronto Cash was not an entity regulated or supervised by that agency and was not authorized  in Panama: "to directly or indirectly  accept money from the public on deposit or in any other form."

Diamond said the company does not have or has had,  a license to conduct banking business or maintain a representative office in the country, in accordance with the Banking Law.

In Panama, the collection of deposits is reserved for formal banks and credit unions, so any other system is considered illegal, by regulators of the financial system, including the Ministry of Commerce and Industry and the Superintendency of Banks.

Pronto Cash offers a financial card system, where users can deposit unlimited amounts of money and supposedly does not need justification of originIt can then be used with a card similar to the debit card. says Panama America.

The system consists of the so-called "financial card" which can be used with the money deposited by the user at the offices of the company.

Minister of Trade and Industry, Ricardo Quijano said that some anomalies have been detected in Pronto Cash and that an audit of the company’s operations is under way, and expected to be completed by Wednesday, March 28.

The president of the Financial Pronto Cash, Tatiana Nazarova, told Panama America that the company conducts its business legally, and was authorized by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry in May 2008.

Nazarova confirmed that the prepaid card service was launched in the second half of 2009, after permission was obtained from the Ministry of Commerce and Industry and a MasterCard license granted.

Nazarova gave the explanation in an interview at which her husband Monte Morris Friesner was  present. Friesner was charged in the U.S. with 20 counts of alleged electronic fraud and other crimes, according to US Justice Department reports. He was released in June 1998, according to the US Bureau of Prisons.