Banesco USA Adds 5 bps To 12-Month CD Rate
As I was reviewing all the newly lowered CD rates on Monday, something caught my eye: 5 bps added to the Banesco USA (Banesco) 12-month BaneSmart CD. In addition to having a very competitive 2.15% APY, the 12-month BaneSmart CD also has the highest APY offerred on any of the five CDs Banesco product line. Opening a BaneSmart CD online requires a $1.5k minimum deposit, but can be opened in-branch with a $1k minimum deposit. While Banesco’s online application shows two deposit tiers (under $250k and over $250k), the APYs are currently the same for both tiers.
As stated in the Miscellaneous Service Fees page, the Early Withdrawal Penalty (EWP) reads as follows:
For a term of greater than 31 days to less than or
equal to 365 days, the penalty is 90 days of interest.
When I last wrote about Banesco CDs in October 2018, all interest was paid at maturity, making an early withdrawal quite unattractive. Banesco has changed that policy and now allows CD holders to,
Choose your own payment schedule, either monthly, quarterly, semi-annually or at maturity.
While the option of controlling the payment schedule is an improvement,
If you close your account before interest is
credited, you will not receive the accrued interest.
Funding a new CD can be done through an ACH transfer from a checking or savings account at another institution. According to the first page of the online application,
Checking or Savings account information to fund your new CD.
Funds must be available at the time of account application.
According to the Client Care Representative I spoke with, an ACH transfer back to the original funding account is available upon maturity. The BaneSmart CDs have a ten calendar day grace period.
Availability
Headquartered in Coral Gables, Florida, Banesco USA offers its product line to all U.S. citizens and resident aliens, 18 years or older, with a valid Social Security number. Each account signer is required to have a unique email address.
As stated on the first page of the online application, “we cannot offer to title accounts opened online in the name of a trust, however, the trust can be set up as a beneficiary.”
Opening a BaneSmart CD with can be done online or any of five Florida branches, located in Aventura, Coral Gables, Doral, Fort Lauderdale, and Miami. Banesco USA also has a branch in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Bank Overview
Banesco USA has an overall health grade of "A" at DepositAccounts.com, with a Texas Ratio of 3.65% (excellent) based on September 30, 2019 data. In the past year, Banesco USA has increased its total non-brokered deposits by $325.21 million, an excellent annual growth rate of 30.6%. Please refer to our financial overview of Banesco USA (FDIC Certificate # 57815) for more details.
Banesco USA is currently Florida’s 16th largest bank with assets in excess of $1.7 billion. As I haven’t written about Banesco in almost a year, I think it’s important to once again mention the possible confusion between Banesco USA and Banesco, a Venezuelan bank.
Banesco USA was founded and granted an FDIC Certificate in 2006 and originally operated as BBU Bank. According to a PR Newswire article, the Bank was re-branded as Banesco USA in 2011,
after BBU Bank acquired and merged San Juan, Puerto Rico-based Banesco International Bank Corp. into its mainland U.S. domestic banking operations. The merger done last September gave BBU Bank an additional $16 million capital infusion and a new branch in the US Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
According to Wikipedia,
Banesco is one of the first Venezuelan banks holding only Venezuelan capital. It was founded in 1977 as the Banco Agroindustrial Venezolano (Venezuelan Agroindustrial Bank), until it changed its name to Banco Financiero (Financial Bank) in 1987. In 1992, after changing their name to Bancentro, the bank was acquired by the Banesco Financial Organization, the banking division came to dominate the company and was combined with the other divisions to form a banco universal (universal bank).
The Disclosure document attached to Banesco USA's online application states,
Banesco USA is a Florida state chartered bank regulated by the Office of Financial Regulation (OFR) and completely independent of Banesco in other countries.
Bottom line, Banesco USA and Banesco (Velezuelan) are not the same financial institution.
How the BaneSmart CD Compares
When compared to 203 similar length-of-term CDs tracked by DepositAccounts.com that require a similar minimum deposit and are available nationwide, Banesco USA’s 12-month BaneSmart CD APY currently shares the top spot with Andrews Federal Credit Union’s 13-month Certificate Special and GreenState Credit Union’s 14-month CD Special.
The above rates are accurate as of 3/4/2020.
To search for the best CD rates, both nationwide and state specific, please refer to our CD Rates Table page.
