Anxious about BANKS

Possible?  In Ecuador anything and everything is "possible."  Manana.  You look young---------.

Leo693,

Some years ago, Ecuador has its crisis and a lot of banks were not secure, but things have changed there in the last years.

Currently, I see a lot more trouble brewing in the U.S" with the number of Banks that go bust there.  Of course, I think you are covered and cannot lose your deposit in the U.S.  Then again, the FDIC will get its money where again? We'll not go there, though.

In Ecuador, there is a guarantee of 12K insurance on your funds in the bank if my information is still correct. I'm going from memory here.  There are some large banks that are pretty solid, such as Banco Pichincha and Banco de Guayaquil as well as Banco del Austro were quite solid when the crisis happened in 2000.

I hold accounts at a smaller bank, namely Banco Bolivariano and it has been very reliable to date.

It all depends what you are going to put into their banks.  There is a capital tax if you take money out of Ecuador, so bringing it in is not a problem, it is taking it out that becomes a problem.  you have to pay the tax.  On the other hand, the returns you can get there on CD's are rather higher than in most countries where interest rates are very low such as Canada and the U.S.

Panamanian banks are solid and easy to deal with. Belize also has a decent and safe banking system.

If you are not going to keep any major assets in Ecuadorean banks, then there is no need to worry. Ecuador does not tax foreign income, so you might choose to put your money elsewhere and just bring it whatever income you need into Ecuador, instead of being worried whether their banks are solid or not.

Panama and Belize pay decent rates on CDs, and there is safety in those banks and in those governments as well.


I hope this helps.

Your deposits in Ecuadorian Banks are insured up to $27,000 currently, the number has a tendency to rise every few years. Some banks are very old banks that survived the end of the 90s crysis and the dollarization well. For example: Banco Pichincha, which is over 100 years old. On my opinion this bank would be the last thing to go down in Ecuador if there are any going downs here. The bank has branches in Miami, Panama, Madrid, so basically you can conveniently have 4 accounts in different parts of the world. It is easy to open an account. Nice internet banking.
The Ecuadorian banks in general pay a very generous interest on CD's, I mean more than triple of the first world, worth consideration.
Good luck to all!

Most American expats tend to keep the majority of their money in US banks and then transfer funds as needed.  Some write checks on their US accounts which fund their accounts in Ecuador.  I have my retirement check send to my Wells Fargo account.  Wells Fargo has a working agreement with the Bank of Guayaquil where one can transfer (using the internet)up to $1000 per day ($9000/month max)kind of like Western Union.  You can have it sent to an account in the BoG or pick up the cash at any branch.  In order to open a  bank account in Ecuador one generally needs a bank reference, possibly a business (EC) reference, identity card/passport and a copy of the receipt for your utilities.  All the banks named in the above posts have websites.  Just Google the desired bank and before opening their website have Google "translate this page".  The translations are not perfect, but you can pick up a lot of information that way.  I opened a small saving account while in Cuenca last fall at Banco Bolivariano and a friend made a deposit today and it showed up almost immediately on the website.  BTW, I am still in the states.  Hope this helps.

Oops - sorry!  Just noticed that you are located in Greece.  However, in this day and age, their may exist similar working agreements between banks in your country and Ecuador.

BTW, Ibokay, the best, fastest and cheapest(free!) way to cash US checks is through Banco Pichincha Panama. You write yourself a check, deposit there (at any Pichincha branch), and in 11 days - you've got it! Easy to open a savings account, and you practically don't keep your money in Ecuador!

All good information.  Does anyone know if they have safety deposit boxes in the Eucador banks.  We have tried bank websites but have not seen anything about safety deposit boxes.
Thankis,
Lynn

I have not seen safety deposit boxes in the banks I have been in, here in Ecuador.

I am told that the Bank of Pichincha keeps reserves in gold bullion as opposed to bonds. Solid bank and I have no worries about keeping money here.  The 2% capital tax that is charged when you take capital out of the country is a pittance when you consider that you can get up to 6.75% returns on CDs here.

Of course there are safe deposit boxes. Pichincha and Produbanco have them for sure (not all the branches). Here is the link at Banco Pichincha website. All in Spanish, of course, get used to it.
pichincha.com/web/servicios.php?ID=61

Of course there are safe deposit boxes in all banks !

They are reliable, but please expect to here from a bank their system (sistema) has gone down and do not know when it would be up and running again. It's annoying ! It happens in most of the banks.

I've had it happen to me several times - you cannot withdraw money or cash checks during this time, or at an atm from that bank. You can only deposit money. It's so illogical and frustrating !

However you can withdraw money from other atms in the same network.

Hi all !
how much is the interest on Cash deposit nowadays ? (October 2011)
would appreciate the help since moving soon to Quito.
is it still as reported earlier 6.75% ?
mucho gracias

Hi Patrick,

Don't know what it is if you go now, but I recently heard that a small CD will get you at least 4%.  I hear that rates have moved down slightly, but I would imagine that you can still get around 6% for CD's that are deposited for a longer period.  WE are going to Ec next month for the winter.  Will pop in and let you know.

Thank you so much for the info!

it's beginning to get real cold up in Canada, no ?

regards,

Yes................time for us to go south for the winter again. We leave when the last leaf falls from the maple tree.

cheers,

Gentisle.

except the normal banks there do exist small private ones,like ahorros y creditos like cooperativa atuntaqui,with a succesful precense of 60 years and graduate with BBB,that they r giving an interest of 10% for amounts of 100.000 usd,which means more than 850 monthly,good investment..........

Cooperativa Atuntaqui gives you a 5.8% rate on a deposit of 180 days to 360 days.

This is stated on their website. I imagine larger despoits will effectively carry a higher rate, but I am a little wary of a 10% rate...........seems a tad too good to be true and I would most certainly want to verify the institutions reserves and history beofre giving them that kind of money.  It is preferable to make sure that you are covering yourself because banks are banks after all.  We do not have to look far to see how few are really solvent these days, right?

Pichincha, from what I hear has a lot of their reserves in physical gold, which is a nice touch these days.  One has to realize the limitations of insured despoits, which are now not very high in Ecuador. Last I looked it was around 15K or so. 

Any institution offering rates that are not in tune with the spread in the ending rates is something to be wary of. Just be careful.


cheers,

Gentisle.

thanx for your recommendations,i am not the smart guy here......of course i am not......but coz it was so difficult for me to believe it,i went till atuntaqui and i took everything written on a paper for 100.000 usd,closed for one year,with the oficial signature,it says 10,04% net!!!!in any case i wont bet my neck on it.....

Thanks for the feedback.  I'll definitiely look into it when I get there in November. If this is the case, I will be aksing them how they can do this and what kind of guarantees they have that they will be able to honor this rate  when it comes due.


cheers,


Gentisle.

my dear friend,
when ever u want i can convert,the document i have in a PDF file(its just a simple A4 page,with all the details)and send it at yuor mail,BUT for the guarantee,i ve nothing oficial except,their stayble position at the market and the long life at the equatorian market,any way in this one year i am already living here,i learned that clients dont have a lot of rights.....always the banks do.....
greetings from cotacachi,leo.

Thanks Leo, would love to see the page.  Send it to [email protected]

You have been in Ecuador one year now? In Cotacachi........I see.  We will be visiting Cotachi durting our stay this winter, and it would be cool to get together.  Send me your coordinates as well, if you like. We'll arrange something this winter.

Thanks,

Don.

Guys,
please send me the details of this page too @ [email protected]
would appreciate it !
mucho gracias

P

If you are a US citizen, you should be very cautious about investing money in a foreign bank. Unless FATCA is repealed, this may turn out to be very costly for you.

hiiiiiiiii,so sorry for the delay....well unfortunatelly for me i am a GREEK citizen.....ha ha ha ha,so between the banks in my country which r ready to collapse and the local equatorian banks,i have to trust the second ones.....i think just from the one year experience here that it seems to be a stayble enviroment,any way thankkkkkkk U so much for your help,greetings from cotacachi!!!