presumably illegal operations were carried out

The popular financial society (sofipo) Sierra Gorda Box it will leave the formal financial system, upon being notified of the revocation of its license to operate; However, there is still a lot of history to clarify, since the same entity recognized that it detected, together with the authority, operations possibly outside the regulations, for which reason it has already initiated legal proceedings against those responsible.

On its website, the sofipo anchored in Querétaro published a statement recognizing its financial deterioration, for which reason on January 6 it was notified by the National Banking and Securities Commission (CNBV) the revocation of its license to operate.

According to the document, in January 2022 the entity had a change of administration in order to prevent its situation from continuing to deteriorate, with the performance of some actions such as executing efficiencies in expenses, providing information transparency and coordinating the relationship with Probable new shareholders.

Although, according to sofipothese actions allowed in the following months to cover the liquidation of some investments and interest payments, the bad situation of the company and its limitation to generate new models, since it suspended its operations to the public, led it to a situation of not being able to cover its obligations, despite the fact that commitments with customers and savers were never disregarded.

“From the notification of suspension of operationsthe current administration with the support and supervision of the National Banking and Securities Commission, carried out various audits of internal operations, resulting in the detection of operations presumably outside the norm, for which legal proceedings have been initiated against whoever or whoever results responsible”, detailed the sofipo.

In different requests for transparency, the CNBV reported that, in its supervision of this entity, which increased from a decrease in its level of capitalization (as of last October it was -6,160.6%), it identified operations that deviate from the provisions on the matter, which hindered their work of monitoring and availability of information on it.

According to the entity’s income statements, from 2016 to date, the entity had different directors:

• 2016 – 2018: Alejandro Olvera Cano.
• January to June 2018: Irma Franco Villarreal.
• September 2018 to June 2020: Erik Israel Benítez Mendoza.
• June 2020 to December 2021: Ivett A. Rueda Romero (signed as office manager).
• January 2022 to date: Jorge Cruz Ortega.

According to sources informed of the supervision process of this entity, one of the clear indications to sofipo was regarding its administration and promotion expenses. According to data from the CNBV, in 2021, when its breaches began and Jesús de la Fuente Rodríguez was already president of the commission, the entity registered a balance of 23 million 900,000 pesos in this category, that is, an increase of 2.5% compared to registered at the end of 2020.

Enter Prosofipo

At the end of November 2022, the governing board of the CNBV decided to revoke Caja de la Sierra Gorda because it failed to meet the required capitalization levels. On January 6, the entity was notified and until now the revocation letter It has not been published in the Official Gazette of the Federation.

In this context, the sofipo explained that the CNBV has instructed the Fund for the Protection of Sofipos and their Savers (Prosofipo) the processes to activate the deposit insurance, which protects savers of this entity for up to 25,000 Udis (around 190,000 pesos).

It should be noted that the last commitment of the Prosofipo to comply with this obligation was with the sofipo Renovation Operatorrevoked in November 2020, and where, due to lack of funds, the entire insurance payment to savers could not be met, for which reason the Ministry of Finance was asked for a contribution, which, until the publication of this note had not been confirmed if it had already been done or not.

“The current administration of Caja de la Sierra Gorda is entrusted with safeguarding the interests of savers, which is why we ask all our clients to keep an eye on official information,” the sofipo explained.

Caja de la Sierra Gorda is a sofipo with a presence mainly in Queretaro; however, it also has operations in Baja California Sur, Mexico City, Guanajuato, Jalisco, New Lion y Puebla with nine branches serving 18,334 customers.

As of September 2022, the entity presented a deposit balance of 197 million pesos and a balance in its credit portfolio of 158 million pesos, of which 87% corresponds to past-due portfolio.

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