BBVA Bank's Venezuela Unit Denies It's Up For Sale

BBVA Banco Provincial, the Venezuelan unit of Spanish bank Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. (BBVA), on Sunday denied claims from a longtime ally of President Hugo Chavez who said the bank was being put up for sale for $2 billion.

It added that the "false" statements were purposely made in an attempt to undermine the stability of the bank.

"The board of directors of BBVA Banco Provincial emphatically denies the irresponsible and unchecked information delivered ... by the journalist Jose Vicente Rangel," said a statement from Pedro Rodriguez, president of BBVA Banco Provincial, on the local bank's website.

Rangel, a former vice president to Chavez who was his right-hand man for many years, in 2007 left the Chavez administration to go back to being a journalist, his profession prior to getting involved in politics. Rangel, 81, hosts a popular Sunday morning show called "Jose Vicente Today," where he made the comments.

Attempts late Sunday to reach Rangel weren't immediately successful.

The statement from the bank added that BBVA has a "solid and efficient" position within Venezuela's financial system and will remain committed to the country. BBVA has been in Venezuela for 11 years and is among its largest banks in terms of deposits held.

BBVA Banco Provincial "believes in Venezuela," it said.

The statement also urged employees, customers and the public not the repeat "these false statements that aim to undermine the stability of the bank."

Venezuela's banking system went through a mini-banking crisis a year ago, when Chavez took over a handful of small-sized banks, nationalizing or liquidating them and jailing several bank executives.

But the takeovers didn't extend to the big banks, and analysts say the overall financial system in this oil-rich nation is relatively healthy.

A Venezuela banking reform bill, currently winding its way through the Chavez-controlled legislature, would declare that banking activity and banking services are a public service, which some analysts say would make them "expropriatable" companies. The bill would also impose a 5% earnings "contribution" on the banking system to fund social projects.

-By Dan Molinski, Dow Jones Newswires; dan.molinski@dowjones.com; 58-414-120-5738.

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