The Fitch Ratings qualifier on Wednesday degraded the Cibanco, Intercam and Vector Casa Bolsa, and withdrew their qualifications before the accusations of possible money laundering by the United States Treasury.
The intercam and Cibanco ratings passed from ‘B (Mex)’ A ‘CCC (Mex)’ in the long term and ‘B (Mex)’ A ‘C (Mex)’ in the short term, while Vector CB had the same decline, Fitch reported in a statement.
At the same time, the grades of the non -bank affiliates of these groups, such as Intercam Casa de Bolsa, CI Bolsa and Finanmadrid Mexico, were also reduced, remained under negative observation and withdrew.
“The decline of the qualifications reflects the significant weakening expected by Fitch of the business and financial profiles of the financial entities, linked to the reputational damage derived from the signaling by the United States Treasury Department with respect to alleged weaknesses in the field of money laundering prevention, linked to the illicit opioid traffic,” said the agency.
He also said that the withdrawal of the qualifications was due to “commercial reasons”, so he will stop tracking these entities “from this date.”
Fitch warned that since the announcement of the Department of the Treasury, it has observed customer exit, decrease in daily operations, fall in administration assets and a deterioration of liquidity in the affected banks.
See: Cibanco, Inter -M and Vector regulator fines derive from regular reviews, says Hacienda
“The new qualification level reflects the negative impact on the credit quality of the entities, the disruption in their business models and the additional risks derived from the significant uncertainty that these events imply in terms of the financial flexibility of these entities.”
Fitch recognized the efforts made by the affected entities, as well as by the national financial authorities after the temporary management intervention thereof, in order to maintain operations as much as possible.
However, the qualifier stressed that the credit quality of these entities could continue to deteriorate as their clients act before the sanctions of the United States, whose application was postponed until September 4, 2025.
Although the entities continue to fulfill their obligations, he warned that the qualifications reflected at the time of their withdrawal a very high level of non -compliance with respect to other emitters or obligations in the country.
In June, the Association of Banks of Mexico assured that there are no systemic risks and that the system maintains its solidity, while the Ministry of Finance explained that, although the Treasury notified the Financial Intelligence Unit, it has not delivered evidence that supports the links between financial institutions and crimes.
With EFE information
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