Venezuela's Chavez Again Threatens Takeover Of Banco Provincial
January 26 2011 - 3:10PM
Dow Jones News
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez Wednesday threatened to
nationalize BBVA Banco Provincial, the local unit of Spain's Banco
Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A. (BBVA, BBVA.MC), if the company
delays allocating funds to complete housing projects.
Speaking in a televised conference from the Miraflores
presidential palace, Chavez called one of the bank's executives
live to confront him after hearing complaints from attendees at the
conference seeking mortgages who alleged the company was delaying
payments.
"If Banco Provincial refuses to honor the constitution, refuses
to honor a presidential decree put into law, then I'm going to
nationalize Banco Provincial," Chavez said.
"I don't have any problem with it. I will pay whatever the bank
costs," he added.
The socialist leader, who has made housing for the country's
poor among his top priorities, made similar comments toward Banco
Provincial and other banks in December, saying he would take over
any that didn't ensure homes and apartments they finance are
occupied immediately.
Housing projects have become highly politicized in Venezuela
after heavy flooding in late November and early December displaced
more than 130,000 people around the country.
BBVA Banco Provincial has been in Venezuela for 11 years and is
among is among the country's largest in terms of deposits held.
Last month, the then-overwhelmingly Chavez-supporting National
Assembly passed a financial-sector reform bill that reclassified
banks as public institutions, allowing them to be easily taken over
by the government.
-By Kejal Vyas, Dow Jones Newswires; 58-414-249-6821;
kejal.vyas@dowjones.com
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