Scotiabank
As a point of fact, please take note that Scotiabank D.R. is not a subsidiary of The Bank of Nova Scotia in Canada. It is a branch albeit its local operations are subject to D.R. banking regulations. As such, local deposits are protected by Canadian Depository Insurance up to Cdn$60,000 per account in the event that The Bank of Nova Scotia (Canada) enters bankruptcy. Granted this would be highly unlikely given that Scotiabank reported assets of over $296 billion as at Oct. 31, 2002 and average annual earnings of over $1.8 billion in the last three years.
Banks are governed locally by the Superintendent of Banks and the Central Bank, not by the government, albeit there are political connections given that the government elects the Governor of the Central Bank. Hopefully this will be changed by government in the future to improve the impartiality of how financial institutions are governed in the D.R.
Because of this political connection, and in the interest of demonstrating impartiality, the Central Bank applies monetary policy (relatively) equally to all banks. It is not in the habit of applying rules to one bank and not to another, although its audit abilities fell into question following the Baninter affair. It promptly increased the amount of due diligence it undertakes, as evidenced by the shareholders of Bancredito and Banco Mercantil taking steps to inject equity to cover similar holes in their banks. Clearly they did not want the Central Bank to have to intervene on their operations, nor risk being accused of possible questionable lending activities. Such injections probably resulted from pressure applied by the Central Bank on the respective bank shareholders, as the Central Bank could not risk an additional bank failure following Baninter. The impact on the monetary system would have been potentially, irreversible.
With the flight of the Peso relative to the USD, the Central Bank took steps to control the amount of Pesos converted into USDs as it is permitted to do so under local regulations. So it increased the reserve requirements for banks, offered high interest rates for Peso deposits to dry up the money supply, and sought IMF funding to support the Peso. This reduces the amount of Pesos that can be converted into USDs, while having a ready supply of foreign currency available to support the Peso. Unfortunately, there are risks to such actions, such as public awareness and the flight risk of dollars out of the country with the expectation that at some point, such controls will be removed and the Peso will depreciate further in the future.
Unfortunately, with the recent exodus of the IMF, the government does not have USDs to support the Peso and most recently announced that only USDs that come into the country naturally through foreign trade and tourism will be available for purchase. This will undoubtedly cause further devaluation of the Peso. Certainly, the return of the IMF is a must to obtain Peso stability moving forward.
I believe Ken is correct in saying that there has not been a situation where the Government has taken dollars from depositors accounts. To do so would be quasi political suicide, and any government would only consider such action as a step of last resort. All other avenues would be sought out first before taking such dramatic steps, as it would undermine the entire financial system. Certainly, it does not appear that Scotiabank believes such action would be entertained or else it would not have purchased Baninter's branch system and invested for the long-term in the Dominican Republic.
I hope this is helpful.
Best regards.
fcred