Venezuela's Chavez Again Threatens Takeover Of Banco Provincial

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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