On December 3, 2004, the CNBV issued the General provisions applicable to credit institutions (Title Five, Chapter I) (information in spanish) , which define the elements needed to classify full service banks in categories, based on the CR quoted by the Mexican Central Bank (Spanish acronym BANXICO). The CNBV will classify banks in five categories, as follows:
Category I: Banks with an CR of 10 percent or more.
Category II: Banks with an CR of 8 percent or more and below 10 percent.
Category III: Banks with an CR of 7 percent or more and below 8 percent.
Category IV: Banks with an CR of 4 percent or more and below 7 percent.
Category V: Banks with an CR below 4 percent.
The CNBV must notify full service banks of the minimum corrective measures corresponding to the category in which they have been classified and, if deemed advisable, additional special corrective measures, whose application is left to the discretion of the supervisory authority. The notification must be given in a term of 5 business days after BANXICO publishes its CR figures. In the same term, the CNBV must post a listing of the categories in which banks have been classified on the Internet.
Minimum Corrective Measures
The following table lists the minimum corrective measures the CNBV must order for each of the categories:
Category |
Minimum Corrective Measures |
I |
No minimum corrective measures or additional special corrective measures will be applied.
|
II |
1. Inform the board of directors of the category in which the bank was classified in a term that must not exceed 20 business days from the day the bank receives the notification.
|
Also, the bank must inform the board of directors, in a previously convened session, of the causes responsible for the deterioration of its CR, for which it must present a detailed report containing a comprehensive evaluation of the causes of its financial position. The report must be submitted in writing to the vice chairman of the commission responsible for supervising the bank.
|
If the bank in question is part of a financial group, it must notify the president and chairman of the board of its holding company in writing of its situation within no more than 20 business days after the bank receives the aforementioned notification.
|
2. Refrain from engaging in operations that can cause its CR to fall below the required level. |
III |
1. Present a capital restoration plan to the Commission.
|
2. Suspend the bank’s dividends payments to its shareholders, as well as any mechanism or act that implies a transfer of equity benefits to them. If the bank in question belongs to a financial group, the measure contemplated in this point will apply to the holding company of the group to which it belongs and to the financial entities or corporations in the group. |
3. Suspend programs for repurchasing shares representing the capital stock of the bank in question and, if it belongs to a financial group, of the group’s holding company as well. |
4. Defer payment of interest and, in the Commission’s opinion, defer payment of principal or convert outstanding subordinate obligations to shares, in up to the amount necessary to cover the capital shortfall. This minimum corrective measure will apply to subordinate obligations that count as part of a bank’s net capital. |
5. Suspend payment of extraordinary compensation and bonuses aside from the salaries of the president and the officers at the next two organizational levels, and not approve new compensation for the president and officers in the future until the bank achieves the required capitalization levels. |
6. Refrain from agreeing to increases in the amounts of loans granted to persons considered related parties. |
IV |
1. Request the Commission’s authorization to make new investments in non-financial assets, open branch offices, or engage in new activities different from the operations the bank customarily engages in as part of its ordinary operations. |
V |
Banks that fall under this classification will be subject to the minimum corrective measures described for categories II, III, and IV.
|
For both minimum corrective measures and for additional special corrective measures, banks classified in a given category will be subject to the corrective measures applicable to the previous categories.
In addition, the CNBV will provide the SHCP, BANXICO, and IPAB with available information on a bank when its CR falls below 8 percent. Also, the CNBV will ask IPAB to evaluate the possibility of starting a technical study which, if implemented, will be used to decide on a resolution method for the bank.
Additional special corrective measures
The CNBV, for application of the additional special corrective measures, will consider the category in which the bank in question has been classified, and may, in addition, consider the following elements:
- Its overall financial position;
- Its level of regulatory compliance;
- The trend of the bank’s CR and the principal indicators that reflect its level of stability and solvency;
- The quality of the accounting and financial information the bank presents to the CNBV, and its compliance in submitting such information; and
- Quality and compliance in submittal of information that banks must provide to BANXICO to determine their CR.
In addition, to determine additional special corrective measures, the CNBV may consider the results of exercising its functions of inspection and oversight, as well as sound banking and financial practices.
Category |
Additional Special Corrective Measures |
I |
No minimum corrective measures or additional special corrective measures will be applied.
|
II |
1. Define specific actions to be taken, in order to prevent deterioration of the bank’s CR. For this purpose, the bank must prepare a detailed report containing a description of the terms and conditions under which it will manage its assets at risk and, if applicable, the strategy it will use to strengthen and stabilize its CR at the level deemed appropriate for the bank based on its business objectives and strategy.
The report must be submitted to the bank’s Board of Directors, to the CNBV Vice Chairman responsible for its supervision, and – in the case of affiliates, to the highest ranking officer in the area or internal division of the foreign financial institution to which the affiliate reports and to the officer in charge of the foreign financial institution’s internal audits area. |
2. In the case of affiliates, submit to both the highest ranking officer in the area or internal division of the foreign financial institution to which the affiliate reports and to the officer in charge of the foreign financial institution’s internal audits area, a detailed report on the overall evaluation of the causes of its financial situation. |
3. Contract the services of external auditors or other specialized third parties to conduct special audits focusing on specific issues. |
III |
1. Refrain from agreeing to increases in salaries and benefits paid to officers and employees in general, except salary revisions agreed upon, respecting acquired labor rights at all times. |
2. Refrain from granting additional or extraordinary bonuses or compensations aside from officers’ salaries different from those mentioned in Rule Nine, Item V, above, granting of which is discretional for the bank, respecting acquired labor rights at all times. |
3. Limit the execution of new operations which, in the Commission’s judgment, may cause an increase in assets at risk and/or cause greater deterioration of its CR. |
4. Take the actions necessary to counteract or minimize the impact of operations the bank has executed with members of the same corporate group to which it belongs, or with any third party, that entail a transfer of equity benefits or funds that cause it a financial detriment and that the Commission has detected in exercising its functions of inspection and oversight. |
5. Refrain from executing the operations that the Commission determines with members of the same corporate group to which the bank belongs. |
IV |
1. Replace officers, directors, statutory auditors, or external auditors, for which the bank may appoint the persons who are to hold the positions in question. |
2. Take the actions necessary to reduce risk exposure resulting from operations that deviate significantly from the bank’s customary policies and practices and which, in the Commission’s judgment, produce high market risk. |
3. Change the bank’s established policies on interest rates paid on deposits and liabilities with yield above the risk level the bank customarily assumes in such operations and which the Commission has detected in exercising its functions of inspection and oversight. |
V |
The additional special corrective measures described for categories II, III, and IV may be applied to banks in this category. |
|