Buenos Aires, Dec 19 — Banco Industrial (BIND) is at the center of an investigation by the Central Bank of the Republic Argentina (BCRA) due to its role as a 'support' entity for Sur Finanzas, the financial firm linked to the president of the Argentine Football Association (AFA), Claudio 'Chiqui' Tapia. The BCRA warned Banco Industrial about 'defects of all kinds' detected in the operations of Sur Finanzas clients, based on risk profiles and lack of asset justification. It banned the currency exchange operation for ARS Cambios—a company linked to Sur Finanzas—for 30 days starting December 11 and is analyzing how to proceed with the Payment Service Provider (PSP) license. Although Sur Finanzas remains active in the official registry, in practice it no longer has any operations. In the last report submitted to the BCRA, all accounts show a zero balance. Banco Industrial, owned by Andrés Meta (50.3%) and his mother Carlota Durst de Meta (46.4%), acted as the legal depository for Sur Finanzas' funds, a mandatory requirement for PSPs that lack a banking license. The judiciary is investigating money movements of over 800 billion pesos. Sur Finanzas' loans showed extremely high non-performing rates: by September, 23% of the portfolio was in an irregular situation. Three weeks ago, the bank closed the financial firm's account. According to the Argentine News Agency (NA), the BCRA's Superintendence of Financial Entities detected suspicious operations at Sur Finanzas and imposed sanctions. In April and May, the percentages reached 99% and 100%.
