(Reuters)
“This is a bold decision. Being isolated from the US financial system is a deadly blow. It has a huge impact,” said the organized crime specialist.
The US Treasury prohibited certain transactions with Cibanco, Intercam Banco and Vector Casa de Bolsa for allegedly laundering money linked to drug trafficking.
“These are not precisely the largest banks in Mexico, but they are not small entities either. They are medium level banks,” added Felbab-Brown.
He pointed out that while they are significant, it is unlikely that “make a dent in the financial flows of Mexican criminal groups.”
Lee: EU points to Cibanco, Intercam and vector for alleged narcolavado; prohibits some operations with them
Luis Manuel Pérez de Acha, fiscal lawyer and money laundering expert in Mexico City, said the accusations were a “bomb”.
“The entire financial system goes through the United States, so they almost run out of operations,” he said.
The sanctions do not block the property or suspend all the global activities in dollars of the Mexican companies, as would other sanctions of the department, but the US transactions with their branches in Mexico do prohibit, according to the press a treasure official.
Lee: Vector, Intercam and Cibanco reject US signs on Narcolavado
The measure will have a similar effect: excluding the institutions of the US financial system, the official added.
The Treasury said that Cibanco and Intercam commercial banks have assets for more than 7 thousand MDD and 4 thousand MDD, respectively, which makes them relatively small according to global banking standards.
But the action against vector, a brokerage firm that manages almost 11 thousand MDD in assets and is one of the 10 main stock market houses in Mexico, “underlines the importance of our actions,” the Treasury Undersecretary, Michael Faulkender, told journalists.
The Treasury said that the three financial organizations “have collectively played a vital and long -standing role in washing millions of dollars in the name of headquarters in Mexico and in the facilitation of payments for the acquisition of chemical precursors necessary to produce fentanyl.”
Although sanctions against people and companies with links with Mexican organized crime groups are quite frequent, measures against financial institutions are much less common.
These sanctions add another potential obstacle to relieve commercial tensions between the United States and Mexico for the punitive tariffs of 25% of President Donald Trump about many imports from Mexico, which aim to stimulate the action to stop the flow of fentanyl to the United States.
The Treasury indicated that she was notified of the Treasury investigation and requested evidence of links of illegal activities with Cibanco, Interm and Vector, but said she did not receive “conclusive information.”
The three firms separately rejected the accusations of the US government.
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