Taken from other forum, statement from caporaso:
Central Bank of Belize doesn’t take action when faced with Choice’s lack of liquidity
The Choice Bank of Belize, after 10 years on the market, is passing through a strong liquidity crisis that has driven it to stop withdrawal of money by its accountholders. The problem is very serious; however, in such a complex context, the Central Bank of Belize’s – which has the objective of regulating the Central American country’s financial system, as well as issuing the nation’s currency – lack of action is astonishing. The Choice Bank’s accountholders are extremely worried about the situation of their assets. The law firm Caporaso & Partners got in contact with the Central Bank of Belize with the objective of receiving an answer to its multiple concerns about the subject; however, this institution offered the following as its single, insufficient answer: “We aren’t allowed, by our statutes, to respond to your specific questions. Direct your specific requests to the Choice Bank.”
To the accountholders, who have trusted said bank, this “answer” seems to be a taunt. All of them had previously contacted the Choice Bank, but it didn’t offer any information, beyond a brief statement where it admitted that “a problem with the prepaid cards” has affected the freeze on the accounts.
In this statement, the Choice Bank admitted that it maintains a positive balance sheet, with retained accumulated earnings of more than 26 million dollars. This information doesn’t seem credible, because otherwise the financial institution wouldn’t have frozen its accountholders’ assets.
The Central Bank of Belize recognizes its mission and objective as ensuring the country’s financial stability and economic growth. In the case of Choice, the Central Bank has done the complete opposite, because by not offering information it has created distrust over Belize’s financial system.
The Choice Bank had obtained an international banking license, Class A, through which it could carry out transactions through its business office in Belize. To maintain the license, it had to have a minimum authorized paid capital of 3,000,000 USD and it’s the responsibility of the Central Bank of Belize that they comply with this. Therefore, if the Choice Bank has problems and the banking authority of the country doesn’t intervene in time, this shows a lack of compliance of its functions
In short, central bank wont help, and choice isnt insured.
Now is the time for my chill pill...
I read this as well but I think we need to carefully parse what is being said before forming any conclusions. While there is ample literature on what the Federal Reserve (US Central Bank) does, I could find very little information on what the Central Bank of Belize is supposed to do. It would be useful to find any examples of the Central Bank of Belize rescuing a Belize bank on the verge of bankruptcy or in financial trouble to determine whether their response to Caporaso is unusual. We already know Belize isn't a first world country and their banking sector is probably like the Wild West compared to first world countries. That being said, while your money is probably a lot less safe, we also shouldn't assume the worse just because they didn't provide a response like a central bank should.
Here is an article from 2016 highlighting the how banks in Belize, including the Central Bank of Belize, are having trouble keeping their CBRs (Correspondent Banking Relationships). CBRs are directly related to a bank's liquidity. For example, Choice Bank does not have the ability to move money from their accounts all over the world without relying on another major bank, likely from the US to act as an intermediary. If major banks in the US have decided to cut their ties with banks in Belize, the banks in Belize will have a hard time moving money around until they can find replacement CBRs. Since this article is from 2016 and the Belize banking sector hasn't collapsed, I'm guessing they have found workarounds. However, I'm certain they are still entirely vulnerable to such things. Of course I have no idea if Choice Bank is facing a similar scenario.
http://amandala.com.bz/news/banks-sever-ties-central-bank-belize-governor-confirms/
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