The President of the Republic, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, spoke in favor of Mexican investors buying Banamex, whose sale by the US Citigroup was announced last Tuesday.
Without leaving aside foreign investors, the president expressed that he would like the bank to be Mexicanized again.
In a video in which he reported that he has evolved favorably from his new contagion by Covid-19, he even celebrated that the businessman and owner of Banco Azteca, Ricardo Salinas Pliego, had expressed his interest in buying it, because, he said, he has sufficient resources to do it.
He added that the same could be thought of Carlos Slim who has Inbursa and Carlos Hank González with Banorte.
But he also mentioned that the businessman from Monterrey, José Javier Garza Calderón, sent him a message in which he expressed his interest in buying the bank. “They could also, together with other investors, get together to buy the bank. And there must be many other investors, Mexican bankers,” he said.
Garza Calderón, who is one of the prominent businessmen in Nuevo León and an outspoken supporter of López Obrador, represents the organization “Businessmen for the Fourth National Transformation (E4T).”
López Obrador clarified that this does not mean preventing foreign investors from participating in the purchase.
“We are not closed, we are not against foreigners, but we would like this bank to be Mexicanized. Also because it usually happens that bank profits, when the shareholders are foreigners, are not reinvested in our country”, he pointed out.
He added: “these are profits that are not reinvested in Mexico, profits from the banks go away, which, by the way, has done very well, very well for the entire financial sector, the banking sector, because there is a true rule of law, there is governability, there is peace, tranquility, a level playing field, there is no corruption, there is no influence.”
It would leave billions in taxes
He mentioned that, in addition, with the sale of Banamex, billions of pesos would enter the public treasury.
“For the development of the country, so that this budget continues to be allocated to the well-being of our people, to maintain peace and tranquility,” he emphasized.
The president recalled that it was during the administration of Vicente Fox, when Banamex was sold to Citi, but that at that time no taxes were paid.
“It is sold and those who buy did not pay taxes back then, 2001, with Fox, coming in. To benefit those who received the money, their taxes were forgiven, they used a mechanism that was supposedly legal to buy and sell on the stock market and thus not pay taxes. They must have paid about 3,000 million dollars in taxes and ended up paying absolutely nothing,” he said.
He added: “then now, if all the legal procedures are followed, and of course the tax has to be paid, it can be Mexican investors who stay with Banamex, return Banamex to Mexico.”
eduardo.juarez@eleconomista.mx