Government expects to sell Stanford Bank in 15 days

Venezuelan authorities, which last week took control of Stanford Bank, the local unit of Houston-based Stanford Financial Group, expect to put the commercial bank up for sale in 15 days, press reported finance minister Alí Rodríguez as saying. Banking regulator Sudeban took over Stanford Bank after action taken by US authorities triggered a significant increase of deposit withdrawals at Stanford Bank. Rodríguez said authorities expect to conclude in two weeks the process of valuation of the bank and then will proceed to its sale, press reported. Potential buyers have shown interest in buying the bank, the minister said. Stanford Bank had 421mn bolívares (US$196mn) in deposits at end-2008, equivalent to 0.2% of the banking system's total deposits, Sudeban data shows. The bank, with 618mn bolívares in assets at end-2008, had an asset market share of 0.22%.