Thread: Banco Trasatlantico - Panama

I think everyone should call today and we should share here what each of us are told. Probably the same thing but it is worth a shot.

Guess Ayisha is getting her salary paid with our funds. Why are the doors open, why are they there, why do they bother answering the phone? Either you are operational or you are not

Offshore Regulators for Eastern Caribbean Central Bank

As above link shows all the East Caribbean countries are regulated by the same people ( as far as I can tell ) so I think that if the regulators stand by and watch our hard earned money be stolen, then I think we should all make at least 1 website each warning of the dangers of investing in all these countries. This will not only ruin their offshore banking industry but will warn others. A website is only $600. it will be retribution, totally deserved and a very real warning to others. If they cant find a buyer they should just take the losses of our balances and give us the rest.

I completely agree with you but first somehow they need to be informed of this threat so that maybe they will push for a positive solution. So you should send an email off to them.

Originally Posted by office1

Offshore Regulators for Eastern Caribbean Central Bank

As above link shows all the East Caribbean countries are regulated by the same people ( as far as I can tell ) so I think that if the regulators stand by and watch our hard earned money be stolen, then I think we should all make at least 1 website each warning of the dangers of investing in all these countries. This will not only ruin their offshore banking industry but will warn others. A website is only $600. it will be retribution, totally deserved and a very real warning to others. If they cant find a buyer they should just take the losses of our balances and give us the rest.

I sent an email to Dominican Regulator (Mr Al Monelle, Manager, Financial Services Unit, : fsu@cwdom.dm) trying to get him to apply some pressure on Banco Transatlantico but to no avail! He didn't even answer my email.

This recent Dominican story deals with loss of investment, including bank deposits, due to collapse of CLICO and British American Life Insurance. The investors and depositors formed a company to pursue losses of over EC$ 125,000,000 that supposedly came from Dominicans. The comments reveal quite a bit of frustration due to unconcerning government officials and lack of information since the failure several years ago. One comment happens to mention the recent collapse of "a Russian off-shore bank," an obvious reference to Banco Trasatlantico.

Company formed to recover CLICO funds | Dominica News Online

I am truly sorry for the loss of funds and frustration you involved must feel. The employees and even upper management in the bank are probably as much in the dark as everyone else. In addition their salaries are at risk if not already forfeited. If I may be so bold as to offer some advice. I keep any major funds in the states and use multiple banks when in country. Just as recommended stateside if your funds exceed FDIC gurantees use multiple banks, not branches, different, unrelated banks. When your deposits hit, withdraw, thereby minimizing your risk. With the globalization of life in general and business in particular, gurantees, because of multiple ( regulatory ) agencies involved in all the countries concerned, chances of a satisfactory conclusion are slight. I hope none of you were impacted excessively!

I recommend everyone to call this man at FSU, he does sometimes have some answers Claudius Lestrade 767-295-1476

I actually feel bad for Ayisha Challenger.....I hope she gets a bonus when this is all done....it is not her fault and they have put her in the firing zone

Rumour has it that we will not have access to our funds for 6 to 9 months even though the deal is almost finalized. That is unbelievable.

Do you really think that once they find a solution the bank will give access to all clients to 100% of the funds so that every body run away with his money and the bank collapses ? of course not ... if any solution then they will probably give access to only a small part of the funds and will progressively relieve the rest ... this may take 1 year or more so that they stabilize the situation ...

No I do not expect that. What I expect is they show some good will so that we have confidence and allow a partial access. i.e. 20% of funds. If they keep 100% freeze then that is a big business mistake on their part.

I dont understand who the person is in the Yahoo group with all that information.

What yahoo group? I can't find one? I agree with samurai they have to drag on the release of funds for months and months, they don't have a choice. I'd be happy. It's going to take them a while to hire some new staff as well. The regulator is away in Grenada until the 29th apparently, I expect we will get some conclusive decision when he's back.

If you go back a few threads you will see the person name banco tras began a Yahoo group. I never said to release all funds but according with what was said in the Yahoo group NO FUNDS would be released for 6-9 months, so my point is that is not acceptable and they have to show some goodwill and that a certain percentage is accessible. They will be taking new clients on in those 6-9 months and I assume they will be able to make transactions. You cannot eliminate all transactions like it is now, for another 9 months which really is a year. Salaries to the employees will continue to be paid in that time period. Their loan payments will still be collected so therefore, it is not excusable that they will be operational with only the transactions that benefit them. Obviously I get it that they do not want depositors withdrawing all their funds.

anybody have any suggestions for options for other offshore banks?

Supposedly the bank has sent a statement to some customers. And it is not good. The bank is over and done with. All of our funds are gone.

where has this news come from? why would they not send everyone a message? They have 3 quarters of our money, they cant just keep it. The offshore banking industry for the Caribbean would be ruined. Id play my part in ruining it.

For some reason they only sent it to some clients. They gave 3 options. All resulting in the same thing. One option was that you would receive 60% of your funds in 2 years. This is obviously impossible and will not happen as you know, a bank cannot stay afloat for 2 years under those circumstances. One option was liquidation but of course they are discouraging people by saying that is the worst scenario, because that is the worst scenario for Dominica. They say that would take 10 years. I doubt it but they do not want the top clients to choose that. The Eastern Carribean Bank is totally washing their hands of it. They probably think it will only ruin off shore in Dominica.....I doubt that....I think they do not understand the ripple effect of the internet and it will as you said destroy all the banking of countries listed by them since they clearly authorized and regulated BT Dominica and now are taking no responsibility. Either way the bank is finished. 3 options listed are all the same.....no option. Money pure and simple...is gone

There are "zombie banks" all over the world now being propped up by various accounting schemes. It is a shame people have lost everything but is should serve as a stark reminder to everyone to be prudent. If you choose to have money in banks keep it in multiple unrelated banks. Sadly there will be more banks going belly up and keeping (looting) peoples accounts as Europe sinks and the derivatives bomb goes off. Holding a portion of ones assets in physical gold or silver separate from the banking system is a prudent step in the face of what is coming. Again I feel bad for the victims but let's all learn from this tragedy.

We know from the beginning not only did Eastern Carribean Central bank wash their hands of it. So did BT Panama distance themselves. They did own them but decided to just push out Antonov out from Panama branches and just continue business there and let the Dominica branch fall. Bank names are still the same ironically.

Originally Posted by fleeted

There are "zombie banks" all over the world now being propped up by various accounting schemes. It is a shame people have lost everything but is should serve as a stark reminder to everyone to be prudent. If you choose to have money in banks keep it in multiple unrelated banks. Sadly there will be more banks going belly up and keeping (looting) peoples accounts as Europe sinks and the derivatives bomb goes off. Holding a portion of ones assets in physical gold or silver separate from the banking system is a prudent step in the face of what is coming. Again I feel bad for the victims but let's all learn from this tragedy.

This did not have to happen. They have assets. They only lost a quarter of them. Depositors would have been happier to take that loss right away, and continue banking. People would have been mad but it would have been better than carrying on for 3 months, without any information, just to find out at the end, its gone. One has to ask what happens then to the 75% of the money that is left? If clients do not get it, who will? Interesting

It was actually very cheap of everyone, Dominica govt. the buyers etc. to have this all fall apart over 8.5 million. Seems to be such a small amount in banking business terms. Especially Dominica govt. who are relying on foreign investment. Very silly.

Originally Posted by alloway

It was actually very cheap of everyone, Dominica govt. the buyers etc. to have this all fall apart over 8.5 million. Seems to be such a small amount in banking business terms. Especially Dominica govt. who are relying on foreign investment. Very silly.

i am not involved in this but interested to know if the Dominica govt was or is a lender of last resort for the banks there like the FDIC in the States ?

Originally Posted by nakedguydb

i am not involved in this but interested to know if the Dominica govt was or is a lender of last resort for the banks there like the FDIC in the States ?

I am sure they are not officially or legally but they do not have much in their country other than banking and as you may have heard they sell passports for foreign investment, so obviously foreigners are important, very important and you would think this bank collapsing and clients not even getting a penny is not in their best interests but that is what is going to happen, so it is not smart business on their part. They could have thrown that 8 mill in themselves....the clients who have a lot of money in their bank promised business to Dominica if they helped to bail it out. So I do not understand why they would want it to get around that 75% of the bank money was there and yet clients received 0%. Everyone is willing to take a cut......but the cut offered is in 2 years, not feasible at all. 3 months maybe.

I agree that some deal could and should be made by Dominica to salvage depositor relations, not necessarily this bank. Liquidation will take years and they can have their claim paid back at that time from the investments and outstanding loans. Plus, the entire process of a liquidation would create positions and demonstrate that a mature financial system is in place. Their treatment of this failure could be the catalyst for more development and more banking, not less. Makes sense to me, but then again perhaps this is why selling citizenship is the only industry they have that makes them money--they don't get it.

I think Bala that they just dont get it. The bank was very solid. One of the main ones you could find in a search for offshore banking. They ran into a glitch with Antonov but it was salvagable. They took too long and the Dominica FSU should never have put a 100% freeze but if they had to then they should have resolved it faster. They made it more of a mess. They told me they put the total freeze to protect depositors and make sure we got dollar for dollar. Well were not protected at all and we are not getting dollar for dollar. So if they had put a partial one, and allow banking to continue as much as possible. Business would have come in and out and the buyers would have come through.

Oh yeah. They don't get it for sure. They caused a panic (or at least did not aggressively step in and quell concerns) and made it much worse than it should have been. Regardless of the direct local impact, which is minimal, they missed an opportunity to reallly set themselves apart from the rest of the Caribbean countries trying to establish themselves as real competition to other countries. The demands for offshore accounts would have been a boom for their country. With deposits would come investment advisor services, trustee services and others that would have grown an immature financial services industry.

We did not hear an official statement from them since mid-December and actually the statement that came today, not even all the depositors were notified. That is one example of how this was handled. I spoke with a few heavy depositors and they had promised the bank big business if they could come out of this. It would have been a very positive thing if they could have turned the Antonov mess into not a complete loss. Very slow, very unprofessional, there were so many rumours going around, they begged us not to go to reporters or lawyers so they could get the bank sold and so most of us listened to that having faith in them. Clients did what they could do for the most part but the FSU was a disgrace. For a country that banking is so important, this should have been the first thing on their desk.

I have not had any email or letter from them myself, however I had a feeling a while ago that this was going to happen.
Common sense should of been applied here and clearly it was not, I feel now that the flood gates will open on the internet and the banking system in Dominica will take a huge hit, do they realize this??