ECUADOR

On November 25, the Economic and Tax Regime Committee announced the schedule of meetings for the analysis of the bill to reform the Organic Monetary and Financial Code to regulate interest rates in the financial system. The committee will have until January 18 to prepare a report for the first debate on the text. In addition, the Sovereignty, Integration and Integral Security Committee decided to integrate the bill on Digital Security, Cybersecurity, Cyberdefence and Cyberintelligence into the Organic Code of State Security bill. It is expected that in the short term the committee will present the final unified text for the first debate report.

Bill regulating interest rates

The text presented by legislator Elías Jachero (Independent), proposes that the Central Bank of Ecuador (BCE in Spanish), based on the formula decided by the Financial Board, be in charge of setting the maximum lending interest rates. At the committee meeting, Jachero mentioned that the economic reality of the country requires the collaboration of all members of the committee to promote the bill, noting that the interest rates of financial institutions have generated a “social conflict”. In addition, the legislator’s advisory team indicated that the purpose of the bill is to reduce interest rates without affecting banking operations.

In terms of the work schedule, the committee indicated that they have 90 days to prepare the report for the first debate of the text, which means that the deadline will be January 18, 2022. Likewise, as of November 29, the committee established the beginning of the hearings of financial authorities who could contribute to the bill. These include the general manager of the BCE, members of the Superintendency of Banks, the Monetary Policy and Regulation Board, the Financial Policy Regulation Board and the Superintendency of Solidarity and Popular Economy.

The assembly members also agreed to include savers and representatives of financial institutions in the hearings so that, according to them, they could give their opinions on the regulations.

Bill on Cybersecurity

The Sovereignty Committee unanimously agreed for this text to join the bill on the Organic Code of State Security, presented in 2018 by former Ecuadorian President Lenín Moreno. According to Paola Molina, advisor to the presenter of the Digital Security bill, Rodrigo Fajardo (Izquierda Democrática – opposition), the aim is for the text of the Organic Code to include a special chapter corresponding to various provisions of the bill referring to digital security.

The Organic Code of State Security bill aims to ensure that the State guarantees sovereignty and territorial integrity and the protection of the population against threats to collective well-being, thus guaranteeing the full exercise of human rights and constitutional guarantees within the national territory. In this way, it defines the structure of a State Security System as the set of institutions, regulations and programmes whose objective is to carry out measures of prevention and response to risks and threats that affect the exercise of the rights and freedoms of Ecuadorian citizens.    

Meanwhile, the bill on Digital Security, Cybersecurity, Cyberdefence and Cyberintelligence proposes to create mechanisms and strategies for detecting incidents in the digital system. It will also seek to coordinate the participation of different public and private organisations in order to promote digital security at different levels of government and citizens in cyberspace.