This week, Venezuela’s National Assembly declared its banking industry to be a public service, requiring banks to contribute to the public good. Now, under the new Law of Banking Institutions, Venezuela's private banks will be regulated in the public interest and required to serve, not only the interests of private stockholders, but the interests of depositors, customers and the public at large. Under U.S. law, U.S. corporations only owe a duty to their stockholders.
Juan Reardon, writing in yesterday's venezuelanalysis.com, reports that the response from some sectors of the opposition Venezuelan financial community has not been favorable:
Opposition economist Alexander Guerrero called the law “a 50 year step backwards” because it “takes away banks’ participation in the non-banking sector, such as stock exchanges, investment institutions, insurance companies, etc.”
While
According to opposition legislator Juan José Molina, the new banking law is an “attack on economic liberty, on the constitutional right that citizens have to compete freely, to commercial incentives.”