Public banking, social security and access to house financing in Ecuador

Main Article Content

Abstract

The Social Security Bank (Biess) was legally created in Ecuador in 2009, and began to operate formally one year later. The Biess uses social security resources to offer housing mortgages to its members: obtaining improved financial returns while at the same time offering greater benefits to the people covered by social security. Credit repayments are insured by the income, previous contributions and other guarantees. The policy boosted the housing construction and reduced the interest rates on housing loans given that social security contributors could transfer their private credit to Biess. The presence of the Biess, and the portfolio purchases, modified financial regulation in the housing sector. This article takes stock of the policy in order to analyze whether it might be replicable to other sectors where intervention might be considered by well-managed public operators as an alternative to financial regulation.
 

Article Details

Section
Miscellaneous