Venezuela Brokerage
Rush to Panama Fuels Applications ‘Backlog’
By Eric Sabo
(Bloomberg) -- Panama has a “backlog” of
brokerage license applications from
Venezuelan firms seeking to serve clients
moving money into the Central American
country, a regulator said.
Eight of the 12 applications Panama is
reviewing are from Venezuelan brokerages,
said Alejandro Abood, a regulator at the
country’s National Securities Commission.
Last year, Venezuelan firms took out five of
the seven new licenses the country awarded,
he said.
“We have a tough backlog,” Abood said in an
interview in Panama City. There’s been a
“surge in Venezuelan licenses,” he said.
The brokerages are seeking to capture
business in Panama as Venezuelans move money
offshore after President Hugo Chavez stepped
up nationalizations and restrictions on
financial markets, Abood said. More than $93
billion of capital has left Venezuela, South
America’s biggest oil producer, since 2005,
according to the central bank. |
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