Demand for tougher regulatory, justice controls

AS COUNTRIES  move to take action against Panama’s Waked family conglomerate, the Chamber of Commerce  has called for the strengthening  of the  institutions responsible for the supervision and regulation of financial and non-financial activities to avoid the scandals that have rocked the countries over the last six weeks.

On Tuesday, May 17 the chamber’s president Jorge García Icaza said: “The regulatory system, the justice system, the Public Prosecutor’s Office, the Superintendency of Banking and the securities market must continue to be strengthened.

“ This is a conversation that should take place in the coming days, about what we have to do to strengthen the system,” he said.

Among the current deficiencies is the lack of publicity about sanctions imposed on banks, he said.

The Superintendency of Banks have launched 19 investigations in the last 2 years which resulted in at least six sanctions. The Banking Act gives the superintendent the power to reveal these sanctions, but does not require it.

Banking regulator Ricardo Fernández has said several times that the sanctions will be made public, something that has not happened yet.

According to Garcia Icaza, “there are banks that have been fined, but we do not know what they did.”

He also called for more independence for entities such as the Financial Analysis Unit.

Panama has come under scrutiny due to allegations made against the law firm Mossack Fonseca and the Waked family. That family has been accused of laundering money for drug traffickers, while the law firm has been accused of helping people avoid taxes in other countries, among other irregularities.