Tegucigalpa, Oct 11 (EFE).– The National Banks and Securities Commission, or CNBS, of Honduras ordered the “forced liquidation” of Banco Continental, which stands accused by the United States of money laundering and supporting drug trafficking, the Honduran bank announced on the weekend after proposing to regulatory authorities that it be allowed to “voluntarily liquidate” instead.

The decision was taken “as a result of the unfair inclusion of this financial institution on the (U.S.) Office of Foreign Assets Control’s list concerning people linked to securities laundering,” Banco Continental said in a communique.

The U.S. Treasury Department last Wednesday sanctioned Honduran politician and banker Jaime Rosenthal, his son and former government minister Yani Rosenthal, his son in law and also ex-minister Yankel Rosenthal, along with seven companies, including the San Pedro Sula-based bank, for contributing to money laundering and supporting drug trafficking.

The CNBS decision “negatively impacts the national economy due to its effects on the normal development of related companies, which generate 11,000 direct jobs and more than 25,000 indirect ones,” the communique added.

The bank said that the CNBS claims that the institution’s capital stock is 5.2 percent, below the 6 percent required by the Financial System Law but that Banco Continental “would satisfy that requirement immediately with the contribution of 100 million lempiras ($4.5 million) in additional assets.”

Banco Continental, the communique added, proposed that the CNBS accept “the voluntary liquidation of the bank” because the “prohibition” on other financial institutions negotiating with the bank “makes it impossible to operate.”

If the proposed voluntary liquidation is accepted, the bank’s administrative board “would resign and the CNBS would take over its administration, including the ability to sell the bank’s active and passive assets.”

A forced liquidation would “impede” the Grupo Continental, based in Panama, from being able to pay its outstanding invoices and its more than 11,000 employees, since all its deposits are held in Banco Continental, “a situation that would not arise with the voluntary liquidation,” the bank said. EFE