President Hip?lito Mej?a has promoted Superintendent of Banks Alberto Atallah to the position of Administrative Secretary of the Presidency. Atallah was removed from the Superintendence of Banks after that institution failed to exercise its supervisory role in ensuring that all banks adhere to the banking law, specifically in the case of Baninter. Despite weeks of flagging Article 80 of the Monetary Code that prohibits the gossip and rumors surrounding fragile bank operations to circulate, the Central Bank admitted last week that Baninter would have to be liquidated.
Atallah is the son of Elias Atallah, who in 2000 transferred the similarly troubled Banco del Exterior to the Baninter group. The highly respected engineer Julio Cross, former Superintendent of Power, was named Superintendent of Banks.