SBS freezes savings in intervened cooperatives for 45 days

A couple of days ago, the Superintendency of Banking, Insurance and AFP (SBS) submitted nine Savings and Credit Cooperatives (Coopac) to the intervention regime upon verifying that they present negative patrimonies when incurring in the total loss of the capital stock and its reserves.

Said Coopac are the following: Credicoop Arequipa, Integra Asociados, Grupo Prada Limitada, Credisicuani Limitada, Crediperubank Limitada, Inkacoop Ltda, Finanzas Solidarias Para La Exportación Santa Asunción Ltda, Grupo Integra Limitada and Parroquia San Lorenzo Trujillo Ltda; which total a loss of up to S / 246,148,000 (see infographic).

Are savings safe?

Pacifico Business School professor Jorge Carrillo Acosta explained that during the 45 days that the SBS intervention lasts in the cooperatives mentioned above, judicial or administrative processes may not be initiated, such as the collection of credits or debts that these groups have with third parties and that harm savers.

“No money can come out of the cooperatives to pay others other than the savers (…) after those 45 days. The SBS will determine if this intervention implies closure, bankruptcy or if they can be rebuilt ”, the finance specialist pointed out.

In this sense, he added that funds will not be able to be raised or loans, therefore, savers will not be able to withdraw anything they have deposited until the SBS issues a verdict.

This media contacted the SBS to detail how many savers the intervention in the nine cooperatives is committing to, but from said entity they assured that they will wait for the regulated deadline to pronounce.

Will savers get their money back?

Carrillo Acosta specified that, in case a cooperative goes bankrupt and has to close, SBS will auction off your assets -from real estate to credit portfolios- to be paid, first to workers and then to savers.

Thus, he pointed out that in the event that the auctioned goods reach a certain amount -for example, S / 1 million- and for customer deposits the total debt is S / 2 million, proportional payments will be established at a certain percentage among all those affected, even if the granted is not recovered.

Insurance in cooperatives will be in force from 2024

These savings and credit cooperatives do not have the Deposit Insurance Fund (FSD), which covers savers in the event of the bankruptcy of a financial institution for up to S / 112,853 -and which will be updated in the coming days, Carrillo added-, given that This protection only includes banks, finance companies, municipal savings banks and rural savings banks. (41 entities in total).

Although, it is worth noting that there are currently just over 400 cooperatives supervised by the SBS in our country, and through Law No. 30822 of 2018 a Cooperative Deposit Insurance Fund (FSDC) was created.

Said fund establishes that the maximum coverage for the money of the Coopac savers with total assets less than or equal to 32,200 UIT will be S / 5,000; while coverage will reach S / 10,000 in those with assets greater than 32,200 UIT.

The start of the payment of the premiums for this insurance should have started in April 2020, but due to the pandemic it had to be extended twice, to the point that deposits have only started since April 2022.

In this sense, the FSDC coverage will start from April 2024.

Credicoop defends itself despite evidence

The president of the Administrative Council of Credicoop Arequipa, Rosadri Alcántara, pointed out that “what was done by the SBS is an abuse” and responds to the rejection of large banks, harming 60 thousand savers.

However, the SBS specified that Credicoop would go into dissolution and liquidation, since to date it has almost S / 500 million in deposits and a negative equity of S / 199 million. “There are already deposits that have been lost,” they added.