The National Liberation Party (PLN) is promoting a bill that seeks to partially protect savings in case of bankruptcy.
The initiative aims to establish a guarantee fund that would allow savers to recover up to ¢ 6 million when any private bank, non-banking financial institution or credit union supervised by the General Superintendence of Financial Entities (SUGEF) go bankrupt.
The Committee on Economic Affairs ruled in favor of the project, called System Deposit Insurance and Banking Resolution, which is waiting for the first reading in the Congress.
The liberationists returned to the proposal that was originally presented by former legislator Viviana Martín in June 2010.
It aims to protect the resources of small savers and promote the competitiveness of the domestic financial system as a whole, and in turn strengthen the financial system, generating confidence and legal certainty,”
said Maureen Clarke, head of fraction of the PLN.
The fund would be administered by the Central Bank of Costa Rica and supervised by the SUGEF. The resources that savers would be entitled to, would depend on the balance of individual deposits and would be payable to the holder in the event of closure of the bank or financial institution.
The proposal would also regulate the closing mechanism of a bank or financial institution and establish the procedures and measures to be carried out by the authorities to resolve the situation of a viable financial institution, only when all preventive and corrective measures fail.
According to Clarke, it is estimated that over 90% of depositors have less than ¢ 6 million in savings.