Many thousand families in various cities of Venezuela would be affected. The funds in dollars got raised by the bank between 2012 and 2015.
Users of the Venezuelan bank BOD chained themselves to the facilities of the entity’s headquarters to denounce and demand the return of their assets in dollars. The information appeared this Thursday in various social networks and some local media that collected the protesters’ claims.
The action took place in the city of Maracaibo, in the western region of Venezuela. However, the BOD bank has a national presence and according to reports, in 2020, it got positioned in the top 10 of the Venezuelan banking ranking.
In a video released by the National Thermometer portal, one of the protesters highlighted that the protest is a desperate measure since they have not received a response on the refund of the amount owed.
According to a declarant called Yaida Montero, users made the step and started to trust the financial group BOD and deposit savings there. Now users need their savings back,
According to the reports, the entity would have raised funds in dollars from clients who played a role in a foreign exchange auction mechanism between 2013 and 2015. This system got implemented by the Venezuelan government in 2013 when the Illegal Law was still in force. Exchange rates so that nationals could acquire foreign currency legally.
The number of affected users by this case got reported in 16 thousand families nationwide. However, social network Twitter also revealed multiple complaints about alleged failures in the bank’s platform, which prevents users from making transfers and payments in local currency.
There is no official statement on the matter on the official website or social networks of the Venezuelan bank.
Bitcoin Can Fix Everything
Assets withholding occur in financial systems worldwide. A provision approved by the Colombian government allows itself to take possession of accumulated balances in bank accounts that have not received use for more than a year. The government of that country alleged that the funds would get back into the national budget to finance the activities of the State.
The entity’s clients spent many days without being able to access their accounts. Of course, they could not send, receive, withdraw or deposit money or make use of any other banking service. According to the information provided by the company, the problem has already met an end by the technical team.
This situation affected many people, taking into account that this state bank is the largest in the country. According to a June 2020 publication from the Ministry of Public Power of Economy, Finance and Foreign Trade, Banco de Venezuela at that time had in possession more than 16 million clients.
Over a month ago, another Venezuelan bank left users without access to their savings for five consecutive days. On that occasion, the Banco de Venezuela was the most relevant state financial institution and an entity that can balance more than 65% of the Venezuelan market.
By: Jenson Nuñez
