Panama banks fined $3.2 million

FOLLOWING,the revelation  last week that  Standard & Poor’s (S&P) credit rating agency has changed Panama’s banking outlook from stable to negative over concerns about issues such as compliance comes an announcement that  local financial institutions have been fined  a total of $3.2 million this year.

The fines were levied by the  Superintendency of Banks  andThe information was confirmed by Banking Superintendent Ricardo Fernández in an interview on Telemetro.

A spokesmen of the Superintendency of Banks said that “still there are no details on this subject” when asked about the fines.

The spokesman did not provide the identity of the sanctioned banks or the amount each was fined. The reason for the fines was also not disclosed.

Fernandez said that this year it has conducted 26 investigations resulting in the 13 fines. Panama has 94 banks.

“The scandals reveal certain weaknesses and significant areas for improvement in banking supervision and regulation, as well as governance and transparency in the Panamanian banking system,” said S&P.