Thursday, April 9, 2015

Citigroup's CEO for LatAm: Griesa's rulings are 'impossible to fulfill'

Francisco Aristeguieta, the CEO of Citigroup Latin America (file photo).

Francisco Aristeguieta, the CEO of Citigroup Latin America, has said New York district judge Thomas Griesa’s rulings in the case that faces Argentina and so called “vulture funds” are “unprecedented” and “impossible to fulfill”.

“They have no precedent, the situation is very complicated and his decisions will have long term impacts in the financial system,” Aristeguieta told reporters during a meeting sponsored by the Inter-American Development Bank in Panama City, amid conferences for the VII Summit of the Americas, which starts tomorrow.

Aristeguieta said the NY judge is “out of jurisdiction” when blocking Citibank from processing payment on Argentine denominated bonds. “[His rulings] are impossible to fulfill. He forced us to take a painful decision: to leave our Argentine custody business,” he said.

Regardless of the tension between Argentina and the bank, Aristeguieta said Citibank has a “commitment with the country that goes beyond this situation,” adding there is “continuous dialogue with the government” and that he hopes they will both “manage to fix” differences.