Key Benefits:
The Senate and Chamber of Deputies of the Argentine Nation assembled in Congress, etc. sanction with force of Law:
CHAPTER I
Amendment to Law 25,713
ARTICLE 1 Replace Article 4 of Law 25,713 with the following:Article 4o.- Payment obligations resulting from the assumptions provided for in Articles 2 and 3 of the present shall be updated between 1 October 2002 and 31 March 2004, in accordance with the application of a Salary Variation Coefficient (CVS) to be made and published by the National Statistical and Census Institute, under the Economic Policy Secretariat of the Ministry of Economy. As of 1 April 2004, no update index will be applicable to such obligations. As of 1 October 2002, payment obligations resulting from the assumptions provided for in Article 2 of the present shall accrue the annual nominal interest rate agreed to in the original contract, effective as at 2 February 2002. In the event that the above-mentioned rate, for each of the loans referred to in the article, is higher than the average rates in force in the financial system during the year 2001 reported by the Central Bank of the Argentine Republic, the latter will apply.
CHAPTER II
Compensation to Financial Institutions
ARTICLE 2 Please refer to the national executive branch, through the Ministry of Economy, to issue "National Government Bonuses at variable rate 2013", for up to two thousand eight hundred million pesos ($ 2.800 million), whose conditions are set out in Article 3 of this Law, for the purpose of compensating the financial entities, in a total, unique and definitive manner the effects generated by the validity of general rules of order in virtue of which it is the passive application. Article 3 The issue of the "National Government Bonuses at Variable Rate 2013" referred above will conform to the general conditions set out below:(a) Date of issue: April 1, 2003.
(b) Date of expiry: 1 October 2013.
(c) Term: ten (10) years and six (6) months.
(d) Currency of emission and payment: Weights.
(e) Amortization: sixteen (16) six-monthly, equal and consecutive quotas, equivalent each to six with twenty-five cents per cent (6.25 per cent) of the amount issued, winning the first of them on 1 April 2006.
(f) Interests: Interest on balances from the date of issue will accrue at the average rate of acquisition of deposits not subject to adjustment of the system (Plazo Fijo, Caja de Ahorro y Cuenta Corriente) as determined by the regulation, which will be paid for the due semester.
(g) Placement price: 100 percent (100%) in payment of the corresponding compensations.
(h) Negotiations: They will be negotiable and their contributions will be requested in self-regulated markets of the country. The "National Government Bonuses at Variable Rate 2013" will be represented by Global Certificates. These certificates will be deposited in the Central Registry and Liquidation of Public Liabilities and Financial Trusts (CRYL) of the Central Bank of the Argentine Republic in favor of the subscribers.
ARTICLE 4 The Central Bank of the Argentine Republic will determine the procedure to compensate each individual financial entity, according to the following criteria:(a) The balance of the financial entity as at 3 February 2002 shall be taken as a reference (according to the Central Bank of the Argentine Republic).
(b) For the purposes of Article 2 of this Law, to date and with the external audit requirements established by the regulation, the financial entities shall notify the Central Bank of the Argentine Republic of the asset portfolio established under subparagraph (a) of this Article. The amount to be offset will arise from the loan portfolio covered by Decree No. 762/02 and Act No. 25.713, for average life and financial entity, net of forecasts according to the applicable regulations of the Central Bank of the Argentine Republic, and of a recoverability factor established in the five per cent (5%) of that portfolio. The amount to be offset will be the amount to be considered, in respect of the basis mentioned by the financial entity, the difference between the evolution of the Reference Stabilization Coefficient (CER) plus the rate of two per cent (2%) and the Salary Variation Coefficient (CVS), if applicable to the corresponding period, plus the rate applicable in accordance with the current regulations. The calculation period will be monthly as the semi-annual liquidation, except for the first one from 3 February 2002 to the date established by the regulation. In the event that such a difference is positive, the national State must place the bond on financial entities to a technical value equal to that difference. In the event that the difference is negative, the financial entities must return to the national state the "Bonos del Gobierno Nacional en pesos a valor variable 2013" for the amount of this difference, for which the regulation will establish the conditions of implementation.
If, after the expiry of the bond, there are unliquidated differences, they will be cancelled in cash according to the availability of the National Treasury.
The compensation mechanism established by this subparagraph shall be void in the event that for some reason the cause that is compensated for is ceased.
ARTICLE 5o The incorporation into the scheme of compensations set out in this Act, irrespective of the formality used to do so, imports the express conformity of the financial entity with the provisions of the Act, Article 6 of Law 25.561, of Law 25.713, of Decree No. 762/02, and with the other rules dictated by the National Executive and the Central Bank of the Argentine Republic in order to regulate and supplement the provisions referred to above. ARTICLE 6 The national executive branch, through the Ministry of Economy, shall regulate the procedure for the delivery of the compensation bonds indicated in the present, which shall include the participation of each bank in the expansion of the credit portfolio to the private sector. The Ministry of Economy will proceed according to the information provided by the Central Bank of the Argentine Republic for each entity. ARTICLE 7 Contact the Executive.IN THE SESSION OF THE ARGENTINE CONGRESS, IN GOOD AIRES, TO THE VETH DAYS OF THE OCTOBER OF THE YEAR DOS MIL TRES.
EDUARDO O. CHANGE. . JOSE L. GIOJA. . Eduardo D. Rollano. . Juan Estrada.