Financial Regulatory Forum

By Helen Popper

BUENOS AIRES, Jan 26 (Reuters) – An Argentine congressional commission summoned top economic officials on Tuesday as it debates the president’s firing of the central bank chief in a row over using foreign reserves to pay debt.

The commission’s decision is non-binding, but President Cristina Fernandez wants it to give its opinion quickly to end a crisis at the Central Bank that has rattled financial markets and raised concerns a planned debt swap could be delayed.

“For there to be certainty about Argentina, the commission must reach a conclusion on the removal of the former president of the Central Bank this week,” said Miguel Angel Pichetto, head of the ruling party bloc in the Senate.

Pro-government bank directors have already appointed a new interim Central Bank president, Miguel Pesce, who had been the bank’s vice president, to replace Martin Redrado. Redrado, who was barred by police from entering the bank’s premises on Sunday, says he remains president.

But even opposition leaders who welcomed Redrado’s refusal to transfer central bank reserves to the Treasury have joined the government in calling for him to step aside in order to end the leadership crisis at the bank.

BUENOS AIRES, Jan 22 (Reuters) – An Argentine court ruled on Friday that Congress should decide the fate of Central Bank chief Martin Redrado, who was reinstated in his job by a judge a day after the president sacked him.

The court, rejecting an appeal by the government of President Cristina Fernandez, also upheld a previous injunction that blocked her plans to transfer $6.6 billion in Central Bank reserves to the treasury to pay the public debt.

“The court has decided that the government should not permanently appoint the president of the Central Bank until the legislature has participated,” the court ruling said.

By Kevin Gray and Luis Andres Henao

BUENOS AIRES, Jan 14 (Reuters) – Argentina is working to launch an exchange of $20 billion in defaulted debt by the end of January or early February despite a political battle over foreign reserves that has roiled markets, the finance secretary told Reuters on Thursday.

Finance Secretary Hernan Lorenzino said Argentine officials have been talking with retail investors and would travel to Europe next week to discuss the swap with holders of the country’s defaulted debt.

Argentina hopes the swap will allow it to issue new global bonds eight years after a massive sovereign default and ease tight financing this year as it confronts some $13 billion in debt payments.

BUENOS AIRES, Jan 11 (Reuters) – An Argentine judge on Monday was analyzing a government appeal of a court ruling that blocked its plan to use foreign currency reserves to repay debt and reinstated the ousted central bank president.

The plan by President Cristina Fernandez to use billions of dollars to make debt payments has set off an escalating political battle and shaken Argentine financial markets.

Fernandez used a presidential decree to fire Central Bank President Martin Redrado on Thursday for refusing to support the plan.

By Helen Popper

BUENOS AIRES, Jan 8 (Reuters) – An Argentine judge blocked the president’s plan to use Central Bank reserves to pay public debt and ordered the bank chief’s reinstatement on Friday, deepening a dispute that has rattled financial markets.

Moments after a court ruled to reinstate former Central Bank President Martin Redrado, he returned to the bank, waving at television cameras. A day earlier, President Cristina Fernandez fired Redrado for opposing her debt plan.

Despite the court rulings, local media said an interim bank chief was taking steps to move $6.6 billion in foreign currency reserves to the treasury. “It’s like a science fiction movie,” a central bank employee told Reuters.