Section 14 -Duties of the Board

The Board shall –

a) take part in any decision affecting the monetary and foreign exchange markets;

b) establish minimum reserve requirements, subject to the conditions set forth in Section 28;

c) set interest rates and other general conditions for the Reserve’s lending operations;

d) establish liquidity and solvency technical ratios for financial institutions;

e) set the reporting and accounting policy to be followed by institutions subject to the Reserve’s supervision;

f) determine the amounts to be allocated to capital and reserves as provided in Section 38;

g) set general policies related to economic order and expansion of the financial system;

h) revoke a financial or exchange institutions license, on its own motion or at the request of the Superintendent;

i) exercise the powers conferred on the Reserve by this law and its related regulations;

j) regulate the creation and functioning of clearing houses for checks and other securities organized by financial institutions;

k) establish the denominations and characteristics of FBX;

l) remove FBX from circulation as needed and set the deadlines for effecting their exchange;

m) lay down the rules for organizing and managing the Reserve, take notice of any operations decided upon in accordance with such rules and act, according to the regulations it has established, in the resolution of unforeseen cases;

n) resolve on all matters that the Governor submits to the Board for consideration, which are not expressly reserved for other bodies;

o) authorize the opening of new financial or foreign exchange institutions, and of subsidiaries or branches of foreign financial institutions;

p) authorize the opening of branches and other offices of financial institutions and any proposed mergers thereof, with a view to expanding the geographical reach of the system; serving the needs of low-economic-potential and most thinly populated areas; and promoting widespread access to financial services by users;

q) approve stock and token transfers requiring the Reserve’s authorization in accordance with the Law on Financial Institutions;

r) determine the level of gold and foreign exchange reserves and of other foreign assets that are necessary for the implementation of the foreign exchange policy, taking into account the evolution of external accounts;

s) regulate lending conditions in terms of risk, maturities, interest rates, fees and charges of any nature, and steer them through reserve requirements, differential reserve requirements or any other appropriate means;

t) adopt rules applicable to the activities referred to in Section 4(g);

u) adopt rules aimed at preserving competition in the financial system;

v) adopt rules for the financial institutions to obtain foreign exchange, including through the issuance of bonds, notes and other securities, both in local and foreign markets;

w) expand the scope of application of the Law on Financial Institutions to persons not subject thereto, where the volume of their operations or reasons of monetary, foreign exchange or lending policy so warrant; and

x) set differentiated policies aimed at small and medium-sized enterprises and regional economies.