Expat Community > Ecuador

HGQ2112
Joined 2009
Posts: 1640

Ecuador, Banks, FACTA and Hyperbole

11 years ago

I don't know what it is about today. Maybe I woke up on the wrong side of the bed (Hey, at least I can admit it). However, the endless amount of "irritants" seem disproportional today. To wit, I encounter a "mass emailing" with the screaming headline:

"There is a growing concern over two types of Ecuador bank risks."

Heck, I was half-way expecting a piece that alternated between revelations of an Ecuadorian version of the "Bugsy Malone gang" pilfering bank institutions and the disclosure that Ben Bernanke would be placed in charge of bank operations by the Correa Administration.

To my surprise, the scary revelations were [boo!]: A) The rehash of the tired Banco Territorial issue, which was not so much a surprise bank unravelling, as it was a proactive and measured closure by Ecuadorian bank authorities of a grossly under-capitalized banking institution and B) The mention that banks in Ecuador could close the door to USA depositors due to FACTA.

Wow! After that screaming headline...all I can say is... hyperbole at its finest. FACTA threatens USA residents across the globe from being accepted as depositors. Nothing unique about Ecuador. Country after country has been pulling up the banking drawbridge to USA residents for nearly 2 decades. Linking this global reality to Ecuador is beyond a distortion. FACTA is doing, exactly what FACTA was truly intended to do: Stem the massive USA capital flight, which the mainstream media continues to under-report. In other words, FACTA may work, for its intended purposes and Ecuador may be no exception.

In conclusion, if one can garner anything of value from this hyperbole-filled report (probably in an InBox near you), it is that USA residents, considering offshore asset moves, may want to do so sooner, rather than later, and may want to consider hard assets, over "comforting" cash accounts. Beyond that, I just wish the "screaming headline" crowd would act more responsibly.

Hector G. Quintana
[email protected]
“Without deviation from the norm, progress is not possible.” -- Frank Zappa (Yes...THAT Frank Zappa)

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