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The
U.S. Treasury Department announced that it was blocking
transactions between U.S. banks and Mexican branches of CIBanco
and Intercam Banco, as well as the brokering firm Vector Casa de
Bolsa. All three have fiercely rejected the claims.
Mexico's President Claudia Sheinbaum accused U.S. officials of
providing no evidence to back their allegations, though the
sanctions announcement made specific accusations on how money
was transferred through the companies. It detailed how “mules”
moved money through accounts in the U.S., as well as
transactions carried out with Chinese companies that U.S.
officials said provided materials to produce fentanyl.
Mexico’s banking authority has announced that it is temporarily
taking over management of CIBanco and Intercam Banco to protect
creditors.
Sheinbaum said Tuesday that the Mexican government is doing
everything within its power to ensure that creditors aren’t
affected, and said they were well “within their right” to pull
their money from the banks.
The U.S. Treasury Department said that the sanctions would go
into effect 21 days after the announcement.
Fitch Ratings has downgraded the three institutions and other
affiliates, citing “anti-money laundering concerns” and saying
the drop “reflects the imminent negative impact” that the
sanctions could have.
“The new ratings reflect the significantly more vulnerable
credit profile of these entities in response to the
aforementioned warnings, given the potential impact on their
ability to meet their financial obligations,” the credit rating
agency wrote in a statement.
On Monday, CIBanco announced that Visa Inc. had announced to
them with little warning that it had “unilaterally decided to
disconnect its platform for all international transactions”
through CIBanco. The bank accused Visa of not complying with the
21-day grace period laid out by the sanctions.
"We would like to reiterate that your funds are safe and can be
reimbursed through our branch network," the bank wrote. “We
reiterate to our customers that this was a decision beyond
CIBanco’s control.”
S&P Ratings also withdrew CIBanco from its ratings index, saying
that it was because it had terminated its contracts with the
bank following the U.S. Treasury announcement.
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