On March 30, the Banking Sector Superintendency (Sudeban in Spanish) issued a circular on commercial loans in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. The document complements the announcements made last week by Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and Decree 4.168 on the suspension of interest payments on loans for up to six months. The circular is already in force.

The key aspects of Sudeban’s document are:

• Authorizes the restructuring for up to six months of the payment of interests on commercial credits and those belonging to the Single National Productive Portfolio, which have been totally or partially liquidated before March 13, 2020.

• Debtors may apply to their banking institution for debt restructuring. They must submit an application and a payment plan in line with their financial capacity. The bank must respond within 15 days. 

• Banking sector institutions must make the necessary technological adjustments as soon as possible to administer the loan portfolio as established in the resolution.

• Sudeban may define additional guidelines regarding the individual risk classification of each of the credits subject to the restructuring processes.