The Development Banking System (SBD) was created in 2008 by Law N ° 8634, reformed in 2014 by Law N ° 9274. As its name indicates, it is a system that comprises organizations of different nature, whose purpose is to finance and promote technically and economically feasible productive projects, in accordance with the country’s development model in relation to the social mobility of the system’s beneficiaries, which are defined in article 6 of the Development Banking System Law. As indicated in Legal Opinion number 19 of January 26, 2017, by the Procuraduría General de la República, the system comprises different organizations that interrelate to achieve the purposes and principles of development banking. “It is not, then, a single body in charge of promoting the development of priority sectors through banking or financial services. The System is not, then, an entity. The Law does not create it as a legal entity and there is no provision that allows it to be conceptualized as a legal entity. It is not a bank either. ” Such organizations are coordinated and directed by a Governing Council, with the support of the Technical Secretariat, set up as an instrumental branch.
The integration of the System, described in article 2 of the Law, includes financial, public and private entities, non-financial services entities, state and non-state organizations. While the integration of certain entities is mandatory, for example, public financial intermediaries, the involvement of other entities such as private financial intermediaries, private entities accredited by the Governing Council or private organizations that provide non-financial services, is optional. Due to this conception of development and the purpose of financing and promoting productive projects, both financing and providing business support to the beneficiaries of the System are equally important. This non-financial support is the reason why the System is also made up of entities that provide non-financial services.
As for the involvement of private financial intermediaries, article 59 of the Organic Law of the National Banking System instructs private banks to allocate a percentage of short-term deposits for the purpose of granting loans to subjects that qualify as SBD beneficiaries. Private banks must comply with one of the following options:
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Written by:
Mariela Gómez
