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Argentine Capital Markets Law No. 26831, enacted on December 28, 2012 and amended by Law No. 27440 dated May 11, 2018, subsequently regulated through General Resolution No. 622/13 and General Resolution No. 731/2018 issued by the Argentine Securities Commission (CNV), establishes in Section 47 that agents have an obligation to register with the CNV, to act in the market in any of the capacities set forth in such law. On September 9 and 19, 2014, the Entity was registered as an Agent for the Custody of Mutual Funds under No. 4 and as a Comprehensive Clearing and Settlement Agent under No. 42. On August 7, 2014, the subsidiary BBVA Asset Management Argentina S.A. Sociedad Gerente de Fondos Comunes de Inversión was registered as a Mutual Fund Agent under No. 3.
Part of the Entity’s stock capital is publicly traded and has been registered with the Buenos Aires Stock Exchange, the New York Stock Exchange and the Madrid Stock Exchange.
The future development of Argentina’s macroeconomic conditions is somewhat uncertain as a consequence of the volatility of financial assets, and certain recently enacted laws and regulations, affecting the foreign exchange market, the projected future changes in interest rates, and inflation levels.
In particular, and concerning financial assets, the Argentine Government issued Decree No. 596/2019 dated August 28, 2019, putting off the maturity of short-term securities (Letes, Lecap, Lecer, and Lelink). Furthermore, by means of Decree No. 49/2019 dated December 19, 2019, the Argentine Government put off the repayment of US-dollar denominated Treasury Bills until August 31, 2020.
Against this backdrop, on December 23, 2019, the Public Emergency, Social Solidarity and Productive Revival Law (the “Economic Emergency Law”) was published in the Official Gazette, declaring Argentina in economic, financial, administrative, social security, energy, public health and social emergency until December 31, 2020.
The Economic Emergency Law has also put off until December 31, 2021 the reduction of the income tax rate (see Note 15) and 2017 Fiscal Covenant which established a gradual decrease in turnover tax until December 31, 2020.
In addition, Decree No. 141/2020 dated February 11, 2020 rolled over the repayment of Argentina’s dual currency bonds due in 2020 (“Bonos de la Nación Argentina en Moneda Dual Vencimiento 2020”) to September 30, 2020, while interrupting the accrual of interest on such instruments. Furthermore, Decree No. 346/2020 dated April 5, 2020 mandated the deferral of principal and interest payments on Argentina’s sovereign debt in the form of US-dollar denominated securities issued under Argentine law until December 31, 2020, or until such other earlier date as the Ministry of Economy may determine from time to time, considering the progress made against and the execution of the process to restore Argentina’s public debt sustainability.
As of June 30, 2020, the Entity holds national securities subject to restructuring for an aggregate amount of 7,933,274. These securities are measured at fair value through other comprehensive income, and were recognized for a lower amount of 1,208,397 to reflect the decline in prices.
On September 1, 2019, the Argentine Government published Executive Decree No. 609/2019 setting forth extraordinary and interim guidelines concerning the foreign exchange market. Besides, the BCRA issued Communication “A” 6770, as amended, whereby, among other measures, it provided that up to and including December 31, 2019, the BCRA’s previous consent would be required to access the foreign exchange market for the remittance of profits and dividends, payment of services to foreign related companies, and early payment of financial debts (principal and interest) over three business days before their due date. Then, on December 30, 2019, the BCRA handed down Communication “A” 6856, establishing that the preceding provisions would remain in force on and after December 31, 2019. As of the date of these financial statements, the BCRA has issued further regulations imposing new restrictions to access the exchange market.