Banco Federal had been under scrutiny since October 2009 and was told by the government to add 1.5m bolivars ($349.5m) to its capital base but had only collected 100m bolivars to date. According to banking superintendent Edgar Hernandez, 96% of the bank's customers are covered by a 30,000 bolivar saving-per-person guarantee.
The Venezuelan government has taken over 11 banks as well as buying Santander's operations in the country in the past year citing financial problems at each of the institutions. These takeovers have put about 30% of the banking sector under government control.
The country has seen 23% of its foreign reserves wiped out this year with inflation reaching 30%. The new foreign exchange market means that domestic investors must now use intermediaries to buy dollar-denominated securities and sell them at a government-set exchange rate and companies will be limited to buying $350,000 a month through the market. The government hopes this will anchor the exchange rate but analysts are concerned that the black market exchange rate will instead become the price benchmark.
