Ecuador government will not recognise new superintendent of banks

The Ecuadorian interior minister, Francisco Jiménez, said on August 14 that the country’s government would not recognise Raúl González Carrión as superintendent of banks and insurance. The Ecuadorian legislature swore in González on August 11.

The interior minister cited a judicial order annulling the entire process of González’s appointment, though a different court had ordered the National Assembly to proceed with the inauguration.

Saying “you cannot swear in someone whose nomination does not exist”, Jiménez added the Central Bank of Ecuador and other authorities would also refuse to acknowledge González.

The Ecuadorian constitution states that the Council of Citizen Participation and Social Control appoints superintendents from a shortlist provided by the president. The National Assembly then swears the chosen official into office. The council chose González on July 20, by which time he was the only candidate left in contention from a shortlist originally of three.

According to his LinkedIn, González is co-founder of an auditing firm. He has also worked as a bank liquidator.

On August 1, judge Larissa Ibarra, who sits in a trial court near the city of Guayaquil, issued an injunction against González’s appointment. Ibarra ruled on a petition filed by an individual named Michelle Guerra, who claimed that the appointment process had failed to comply with applicable legal procedures. Ibarra accepted Guerra’s claim that the law required the council to request a new shortlist of candidates from Ecuadorean president Guillermo Lasso.

The president’s office sent a new shortlist on August 5. In the meantime, another court in the region around Guayaquil annulled Ibarra’s order on August 7. That court ordered the assembly to swear González in and barred the council from considering the new shortlist.

The National Assembly then voted 70–29 to accept González, and swore him in on August 11.

The citizen participation council is continuing to process the president’s second shortlist, saying that it respects Ibarra’s order. In an August 15 press release, the council’s president, Hernán Ulloa, said that “we will not permit interference in the designation of the head of the superintendency of banks”.

For its part, the government sent police to the Superintendency of Banks’ offices in Quito. González said on Twitter “it is unfortunate” that the agency “is subject to manoeuvres by the government”.

The legislature removed the last superintendent, Ruth Arregui Solano, in February, for dereliction of duty. Rosa Guerrero served as acting superintendent until she resigned in July, after the council struck her from the first shortlist for lacking appropriate educational qualifications.

The council issued a release confirming its stance that Guadalupe Cabezas, currently the interim superintendent, should remain in post while it makes a second appointment.

Ecuador adopted a new central bank law last year that granted more autonomy to the central bank, in line with International Monetary Fund recommendations.